Foreign Ministers Meet w/USD100bn Ukraine Fund Proposal On The Table

NATO foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels for a two-day summit in which the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Middle East are likely to dominate proceedings. One area the ministers will focus on is the shifting in the organisation of weapon supplies to Kyiv. Currently this is overseen by the US military. However, ministers will lay the groundwork for this being carried out by NATO.

• Politico reportsthat this shift, as well as a USD100bn five-year fund for Ukraine, is intended to ensure continued military backing for Ukraine in the event that Donald Trump wins back the White House and severely curtails US support.
• There is also likely to be some discussion (unofficially rather than officially) on the identity of the next secretary-general. Following the endorsement of outgoing Dutch PM Mark Rutte from Lithuania and Estonia there is now very little standing in Rutte's way of succeeding Jens Stolteneberg at the end of his term later in the year. Some eastern European figures had called for one of their own to succeed Stoltenberg given their position on the Russian border, rather than Rutte who's own gov't has failed to hit NATO targets for the 14 years he has been PM.
• Stoltenberg is set to deliver his doorstep comments at ~1100CET (1000BST), followed by a joint set of remarks with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken at ~1230CET (1130BST). Stoltenberg will deliver his end-of-day presser at ~1645CET (1045ET, 1545BST). Livestream link here.