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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the alliance will found the NATO–Ukraine defence council, with Ukraine invited to take part in the organisation as an “equal member”.
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Additional details on the new body are scheduled to be released at the upcoming NATO Summit in Lithuania, though members have agreed to standardise munitions, command, and enhance interoperability between Ukraine and NATO.
The announcement was made following a recent meeting between NATO defence ministers ahead of the summit where attendees unpacked their ongoing support for Ukraine and NATO’s primary objectives for security in the North Atlantic.
During the meeting, ministers reiterated their support for minimum defence expenditure among allied nations to remain at 2 per cent of gross domestic product.
Stoltenberg expressed his hopes that member states would exceed the minimum, echoing that the figure was a “floor”.
The secretary general also affirmed his support for Sweden’s membership to the alliance, maintaining that NATO will continue to have an open-door policy which will remain unchanged despite Russian aggression, while also welcoming the efforts of NATO partners and the Ukrainian military including plans to train Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and the ongoing counteroffensive.
“Ukrainian forces have stepped up operations along the front line and are making progress – but they face tough terrain, dug-in Russian troops, and fierce fighting,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksyy is expected to join the NATO leaders for the upcoming summit in Vilnius.
While leaders of the member states chart NATO’s primary objectives for ongoing stability in the North Atlantic, the alliance has continued to advance interoperability between partner nations.
In early June, members of the Standing NATO Maritime Group Two docked in Alicante ahead of the Spanish Flotilla Exercise 2023, designed to enhance Spanish readiness and joint warfare interoperability in crisis response operations.
The NATO ships included the Standing NATO Maritime Group Two (SNMG2) flagship from the United States, USS James E Williams, Canada’s HMCS Federicton, Italy’s ITS Carabiniere, and Spain’s ESPS Victoria.
The annual Spanish led-exercise is designed to support the nation’s crisis response operations marked by multi-domain operations in a medium intensity environment with high-intensity peaks.
The hybrid threat operation is centred on a fictional geopolitical situation.
“Spain is a reliable member of the alliance, and through the international participation of units in FLOTEX-23, we contribute to deterrence and defence in the Euro-Atlantic region,” Spanish Navy Vice Admiral José Nunez, Commander of the Spanish Maritime High-Readiness Headquarters said.
“We invite other members of the alliance to participate in FLOTEX because we seek to promote interoperability and cohesion with our partners. In this edition of FLOTEX we will be training with Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 and Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Group 2, among other international units. The capabilities that these NATO assets bring to the exercise raise the level of training significantly, as we train with highly qualified ships and professional crews.”
