NATO to Open Centralized Arms Purchases for Ukraine

NATO will let Ukraine buy weapons through the alliance’s centralized arms procurement agency, the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA), under an upcoming partnership. The partnership would let Kyiv buy weapons, ammunition and other military supplies through NSPA.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The Financial Times (FT), which reported the new partnership on Thursday, said the decision would help Kyiv obtain supplies faster and provide a new channel other than bilateral deals. “It provides Ukraine with the ability to have a more structured framework to leverage a broad range of capabilities that we offer: procurement expertise, support services and access to established industrial base,” Jacqueline Borsboom, NSPA director of support to operations, told the FT. Borsboom explained that Kyiv can order supplies such as uniforms, and the agency can help it obtain them. The outlet said the latest decision followed the NSPA’s April decision to allow Ukrainian arms makers to compete in tenders, and another industry event in Kyiv during the past week for 150 Ukrainian arms makers on how to register for the tenders. Alyona Getmanchuk, the head of Ukraine’s Mission to NATO, told the FT that she hopes the deal will give Ukraine “expanded access” to the alliance’s supply network and an “important gateway into NATO’s defense industrial ecosystem.” Kyiv has long appealed for additional air defense systems as Russia ramps up attacks across Ukraine for the winter campaign, with Kyiv saying that Moscow aims to cripple 90% of Ukraine’s utility networks. Other Topics of Interest ‘Humanitarian’: Trump Weighs In on Putin Praise Amid Backlash Trump links Witkoff’s praise of Putin to an American prisoner’s release as Republicans condemn the envoy and challenge Washington’s Russia policy. Chief among the requests are the US-made Patriot air defense systems and the associated PAC-3 missiles capable of downing Russian ballistic missiles, whose stockpiles in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday, have been exhausted. The NSPA partnership also coincides with the latest rift between Kyiv and the White House, with the alliance’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) program, through which NATO members bankroll US weaponry, under threat. Zelensky has accused the US administration of delaying Patriot missiles already paid for via PURL after the latest rift, though the latter has maintained that supplies continued as usual. But it’s unclear whether the new partnership would cover the Patriots, as the Pentagon must approve their procurement and transfers. On Wednesday-Thursday, Kyiv was hit by three waves of ballistic missiles overnight, damaging metro infrastructure on the capital’s South Bridge and a medical facility in the Pechersk district, killing at least one and wounding 24. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.