On Tuesday 2 December, NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, announced that the PURL initiative, which provides Ukraine with US military equipment financed by the other Allies, had already raised $4 billion since it was launched in August.
“We are on track. We needed about 4 billion by this time of year, which started in August, 1 billion a month. And we are now at 4 billion. So, we still have some work to do in December, but I’m (...) cautiously optimistic, that we will also get December done”, he told the media, explaining that around two-thirds of the Allies had taken part in the initiative.
According to Mr Rutte, it is essential to ensure that at least $1 billion a month is available for PURL by 2026.
On Tuesday, an Alliance source said that the funds allocated to PURL had enabled eight packages of equipment to be delivered to Ukraine, in particular to protect Ukrainian skies and energy infrastructure, and to defend the front line.
The sustainability of the initiative will be discussed at the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, on Wednesday 3 December, in particular at the ‘NATO-Ukraine’ Council, which will be attended by Ukrainian minister Andrii Sybiha. The Secretary General announced that he had put forward proposals to work more effectively on PURL.
The ministers are also expected to discuss the ongoing peace negotiations. Mr Rutte praised the efforts made by the United States and said he was “confident that these sustained efforts will eventually restore peace in Europe”. He was then more cautious: “It’s difficult to predict whether we will be successful. Everybody, on the Ukrainian side, NATO, and of course, led by the Americans, is trying to get there. But (...) we also need the Russians to tango, and that's being tested at the moment, so it's difficult to predict”, he added.
On Tuesday, a senior NATO official said that in November, Russia had taken 500 km² of Ukrainian territory, but that this had been achieved at the cost of significant loss of life. According to this senior official, the average number of daily victims in November was probably around 1,100, and “more than 360,000 victims in 2025 alone”.
Asked about the peace plan that would prevent Ukraine from becoming a member of the Alliance, the Secretary General explained that “the NATO elements of a deal to end the war” would be dealt with “separately”, and that this would include the Alliance.
According to a high-level Ukrainian source quoted by AFP, a Ukrainian delegation could meet US envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner in Brussels on Wednesday, following their talks in Moscow on Tuesday.
Strengthening the protection of the Alliance. The Allied ministers will also discuss deterrence and the defence of the Allies, in particular the fight against hybrid attacks suffered by several Allies. “We will examine the evolving threats and challenges to our security - including from Russia - and how we are progressing” on the decisions taken at the summit in The Hague, announced Mr Rutte.
Since the summit, “we have made meaningful progress [in defence spending] (...) But this is only the beginning of a long road. We cannot be complacent”, he warned, adding that it was necessary for the Allies to keep up the momentum and hold each other accountable. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)