The Ukrainian president himself is expected at the EU summit, which begins on the same day. There he will present his “victory plan” to the EU’s heads of state and government.
An important piece in Zelenskyi’s plan is for NATO to send a formal invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance.
In recent weeks, the Ukrainian president has visited European capitals to anchor the plan, and he will also attend Thursday’s defense ministers’ meeting.
Not ready
But NATO is not ready to send an invitation yet. NATO’s new Secretary General Mark Rutte made that clear at a press conference ahead of the Defense Ministers’ meeting on Wednesday.
– Ukraine will join the alliance when the time is right, said Rutte, who will now lead his first ministerial meeting in Nato.
The question is what Zelenskyj wants to achieve with the peace plan – and how well anchored it is.
But the US’s NATO ambassador Julianne Smith is also ready in her speech.
– We are not at a point where the alliance is talking about sending an invitation, she stated at a briefing for journalists on Wednesday.
More promises
But Ukraine seems to be facing another tough winter, and will need both more weapons and more money to be able to endure. Although, according to Rutte, NATO is well on its way to fulfilling its promise of 40 billion euros to Ukraine this year, it is not enough.
– I think there will be more promises at this meeting, says Julianne Smith.
But the US is still not ready to give Ukraine the green light to fire long-range missiles at targets inside Russia, something Zelenskyj has long begged for, she says.
Norway and the Pacific region
From the Norwegian side, Defense Minister Bjørn Arild Gram (Sp) is participating in the NATO meeting.
He describes it as a “working meeting” where much will be about getting a new command structure in place. He himself will have at least ten bilateral meetings, including with Australia and Japan.
For the first time, NATO’s four partners in the Pacific region – Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea – are participating in a NATO defense minister’s meeting.
– We want to strengthen the security policy dialogue, says Gram, who himself was on a small tour in the Pacific region a short time ago. With him in his entourage were, among other things, representatives of the arms manufacturer Kongsberg Gruppen.
Norwegian arms investment
– We brought a number of Norwegian defense companies down there who met with authorities and defense companies in those countries. Kongsberg is one of those who have come the furthest now. They are investing significantly, says Gram to NTB.
The Kongsberg Group has recently announced that they will build a new missile factory in Australia.
A new strategy towards Russia is also on the agenda for the defense ministers’ meeting.
NATO’s current Russia strategy, or “Founding Act”, dates back to 1997, but has not been changed despite the invasion of Ukraine over two and a half years ago. Here it is stated, among other things, that the parties share the goal of a “stable, peaceful and undivided Europe”.
The NATO countries are now in the process of discussing a new strategy, according to an American official Politico.
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