Allies consider moving Ukraine arms group into NATO to shield it from Trump

Source: Politico | April 2, 2024 | Lara Seligman, Stuart Lau and Paul McLeary

Officials are expected to discuss gradually moving the organization — called the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — into the alliance’s control.

The U.S. and other Western countries are considering transferring to NATO a U.S.-led multinational group that coordinates the shipment of weapons to Ukraine, a move that could help maintain the flow of arms to Kyiv under a second Donald Trump presidency.

During the NATO foreign ministerial meeting in Brussels Wednesday and Thursday, officials are expected to discuss gradually moving the organization — called the Ukraine Defense Contact Group — into the alliance’s control, according to three European officials and a U.S. official with knowledge of the internal deliberations. The goal would be to finalize the move at the NATO leaders’ summit in Washington in July, one of the officials said.

Allies see the shift as a way to institutionalize the U.S.-led effort, allowing other countries in NATO to have a bigger say over the process in case of a Trump reelection, according to one of the European officials. All of the people were granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The Ukraine group was launched in the early weeks of the war by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and then-Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Mark Milley to coordinate Western support for Kyiv’s defenses. It’s credited with speeding tens of billions of dollars in equipment, weapons and other aid to Ukraine that have been critical in staving off Russian forces.

The discussions about moving the group under NATO are happening “at very senior levels,” with the goal of formalizing European and alliance support for Kyiv, said the U.S. official, adding that one consideration heading into U.S. and European elections is to make the group “more enduring.”

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