Several European countries said on Tuesday that they are willing to buy US weapons for Ukraine as part of US President Donald Trump’s plan. However, they stressed that it is still necessary to fine -tune the conditions of the agreement, TASR reports according to Reuters report.
The US President announced on Monday that Washington will deliver Ukraine air defense systems Patriot, missiles and other NATO equipment, paying the Alliance Member States for this. However, many questions remain unanswered, including accurate types of weapons, delivery deadlines or payment methods. US officials have indicated that European states will hand over their own weapons to Ukraine to replace the US.
Support from Denmark
“We are ready to get involved. Of course, we can’t do it ourselves. We need to get more involved, but we’re ready,” said Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lökke Rasmussen on Tuesday before the EU ministers’ meeting in Brussels.
NATO Secretary -General Mark Rutte, alongside the US President, said on Monday that he has already spoken with “many” countries that could be part of the agreement, named Finland, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Britain, the Netherlands, Canada and Germany.
Financial cooperation
Rasmussen explained that Denmark does not own Patriota and is therefore ready to provide money, but it is necessary to first solve the details. European ministers have said they would have to explore ways to pay new US weapons. In many cases, this will probably mean that the country will join in purchases.
“We need to find out how to participate together and finance the patriots that they plan to send to Ukraine,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Sitegard.
Dutch diplomacy chief Caspar Veldkamp in Brussels said his country was looking positively at this plan.
Dialogue with Ukraine
Norwegian Minister of Defense Tore Tare Sandvik told Reuters that Oslo “leads a narrow dialogue with Ukraine” on military aid and air defense remains a high priority. The Finnish Ministry of Defense stressed that Helsinki “will continue to provide material support to Ukraine”.
