Luxembourg to participate in $500 million Nato military support package for Ukraine

Luxembourg has agreed to join a $500 million (€429 million) Nato programme to support Ukraine, Prime Minister Luc Frieden has announced during a visit to the country by Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte on Tuesday.

The Grand Duchy will contribute to the Prioritised Ukrainian Requirement List (Purl) initiative, a package of military equipment and ammunition from the USA to support Ukraine, paid for jointly by Nato member countries and agreed between Rutte and US President Donald Trump in July.

Luxembourg’s decision means it will join Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, Belgium and Latvia in supporting the programme.

According to Rutte, €2 billion has already been raised for the initiative. “I would like to use this opportunity to urge all allies to follow Luxembourg’s lead here and contribute to this programme,” the Nato Secretary General said at the press conference.

Invoking the memory of Luxembourg’s occupation by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, Frieden said the country’s support for Nato and Ukraine was steadfast. “We know how terrible it is if you are invaded by your neighbour,” the prime minister said, describing the country as an ally of Nato “by heart and by mind”.

Tuesday marked Rutte’s first visit to Luxembourg since he took over the alliance’s top job from Sweden’s Jens Stoltenberg on 1 October last year.

Russia as a ‘long-term threat’

A Nato summit earlier this year agreed on a new 5% target of defence spending for Nato members – 3.5% of GDP for defence and 1.5% for infrastructure. Luxembourg has agreed to meet the new defence targets, aiming to reach at least 2% of gross national income (GNI) of spending on defence by the end of 2025.

By 2035, Luxembourg plans to invest 5% of GNI in defence and infrastructure, amounting to more than €3 billion annually, roughly one-tenth of the national budget.

“I welcome your commitment to step up defence spending,” Rutte said. “We know that Russia is there as a long-term threat to the whole of the alliance,” he added.

The Nato chief emphasised that it is crucial that the alliance’s deterrence is robust and to ensure that Russia will never attempt to attack “even one square kilometre of Nato territory”.

Two parts are important in order to secure peace in Ukraine, according to Rutte, firstly, that Ukraine needs a strong army, which Nato is helping to build.

Secondly, security guarantees from Ukraine’s friends and partners are key to peace. “The USA, Europe and others are defining them now,” said Rutte, so that when Ukraine heads into “bilateral or trilateral talks, they do so with unbreakable backing, therefore ensuring that Russia will honour whatever deal is agreed and will never threaten Ukrainian territory again,” said the Nato Secretary General.

Luxembourg’s Defence Minister Yuriko Backes said that the country would not be found wanting when it came to its increased commitments to Nato.

“I really want to say that it is not with the percentages that we will be defending our alliance, it is with people, it is with women and men, it is with equipment, it is with capabilities, and Luxembourg will do its part”, Backes said.

(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Translated by AI, with editing and adaptation by Alex Stevensson.)