A new NATO-led Ukraine support mission is up and running in Wiesbaden, Germany. Leadership in the allied supply of weaponry to Kyiv will pass to the NATO group after three years of American direction. (Facebook/NATO)
STUTTGART, Germany — A new NATO-led command designed to support Ukraine is up and running in Wiesbaden, taking over an effort previously overseen by American forces, the alliance’s military headquarters said Wednesday.
The formation of the group known as NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine amounts to an administrative reshuffling that the alliance says will ensure more stable support for Ukraine over the long term.
The move “is designed to place Ukraine in a position of strength, which puts NATO in a position of strength to keep safe and prosperous its 1 billion people in both Europe and North America,” Gen. Christopher Cavoli, NATO’s supreme allied commander, said in a statement Wednesday.
In July, NATO leaders agreed to establish the new command at U.S. Army Europe and Africa headquarters in Wiesbaden.
The organization, which involves about 700 troops, was billed as a means for putting alliance support “on a firmer footing” by providing more predictability for Kyiv when it comes to addressing its long-term military needs, NATO said at the time.
While NATO hasn’t called the shift a hedge ahead of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s second term, observers have nonetheless described it as an attempt to Trump-proof allied support for Ukraine in the event American weapons supply is halted.
Trump has pledged to bring a quick end to the Russia-Ukraine war by forcing peace negotiations, and he has been critical of U.S. efforts to arm Ukraine.
Previously, U.S. European Command’s Security Assistance Group–Ukraine headed up the armaments deliveries. That command, which also operates at Army headquarters in Wiesbaden, will continue to function, U.S. military officials have said.
German army Maj. Gen. Hartmut Renk, deputy commander of the new NATO headquarters, said Wednesday that the new organization is ready to begin taking on responsibilities from the EUCOM group and a separate international donor coalition.
