NATO members have decided to send a special envoy to Kiev, expanding the civilian presence of the Western military alliance in Ukraine, a spokesman for the Alliance told the German news agency dpa on Wednesday.
The high-ranking official will be tasked with coordinating the Alliance’s political and practical support on the ground as Ukraine continues to defend itself against a Russian invasion.
The decision to send a permanent special envoy comes ahead of the July 9-11 NATO summit in Washington, where leaders are expected to formally adopt for the first time a plan to coordinate military assistance to Ukraine under an official mission called NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU).
For now, it is not known who will be appointed to the new position in Kyiv. The spokesperson said that everything will be known in more detail after the official selection process.
NATO has had an official representative office in Kyiv for almost ten years, including a liaison office and an information and documentation center that has existed since the 1990s.
This representative office is, among other things, in charge of contacts with Ukrainian ministries and authorities in promoting political dialogue and practical cooperation.
The new official NATO mission will also oversee the training of Ukrainian soldiers in NATO member states. Until now, the member states of the Alliance have coordinated military aid not through NATO itself, but through the informal Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine led by the US.
But European allies were worried about how much they could rely on the US-led Contact Group if Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, doubting his willingness to continue Ukraine’s military efforts in the war with Russia.
The headquarters of NSATU will be in Wiesbaden, Germany, Hina writes.
