United States military and NATO officials are discussing a possible plan that could be unveiled in the coming days that would provide Ukraine with much-needed aerial defense weapons, including Patriot systems, by funneling U.S. weapons through the European alliance, officials said.
The idea of NATO buying weapons from the U.S. — which President Donald Trump said he supports — comes after months of uncertainty about Ukraine’s ability to fend off Russia’s brutal air assaults without sophisticated U.S. air defenses.
Still unclear, though, is if the U.S. plans to pull weapons systems from its own military stocks to sell to European allies – an approach that would help Ukraine in the near term. Defense officials, however, have recently expressed previous concerns that the U.S. supply of some weapons could be too low.
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A senior NATO military official and a second U.S. official confirmed that discussions were underway on how to make the idea work.
Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images – PHOTO: Ukrainian servicemen are at work to receive the delivery of FGM-148 Javelins, American man-portable anti-tank missile provided by US to Ukraine as part of a military support, at Kyiv’s airport Boryspil, Feb. 11, 2022.
“President [Donald] Trump has spoken about this, not just with the press, but with the NATO Secretary General, who is working with Allies to get Ukraine the help they need,” the senior NATO military official told ABC News. “This includes urgent efforts to procure key supplies from the U.S., including air defense and ammunition.”
The official added that “NATO has effective mechanisms in place to make something like this possible.”
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According to a U.S. official, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte held a conference call on Friday with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine and Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, the top military commander for U.S. and NATO forces in Europe, to discuss possible ways to provide the aid.
In an interview with NBC News on Thursday, Trump suggested the concept of selling weapons to NATO was a done deal.
“We’re sending weapons to NATO, and NATO is paying for those weapons, 100%,” he said, adding that an announcement on Russia was expected Monday.
Speaking at the ASEAN Summit in Malaysia, Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested one option could be for Europeans to ship their own air defense systems to Ukraine now and purchase replacements from the U.S.
Earlier this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “actively working” with Germany to “speed up decisions” on receiving the air defense systems Ukraine needs.
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius was scheduled to visit the Pentagon for talks with Hegseth on Monday.
ABC’s Hannah Demissie and Chris Boccia contributed to this report.