Part of the allies’ commitment to increase their spending on their own defence is the PURL initiative, which provides for the purchase of US weapons at the expense of other allies of the alliance, and the USA expects new contributions to bring peace closer in Ukraine. US Defence Secretary (renamed Secretary of War by President Donald Trump) Pete Gegseth said this at NATO headquarters on 15 October, Radio Liberty reports from Brussels.
“If we’ve learnt anything under President Trump, it’s the active application of peace through force. You get peace when you are strong, not when you use strong words or threaten with a finger. You get it when you have strong and real capabilities that opponents respect. And I believe that’s what NATO is doing. I believe – that’s what the PURL initiative is doing,” Gegseth said.
The Pentagon chief added that new contributions are expected today, which will be used to buy US weapons for Ukraine, and expressed hope that the war can be brought to an end in the same way as the standoff in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, recognised as a terrorist group in the EU and the US.
“A lot has happened given what the president has been able to do in Gaza and throughout the Middle East. I think the world sees that we have a president of peace who is pursuing it and supporting those who stand with the United States and advocate for peace. That’s what we saw there, and hopefully we can see in Ukraine. So that is where our efforts are directed,” Gegseth emphasised.
NATO headquarters is hosting a meeting of allied defence ministers on 15 October. The Ukraine-NATO Council and a meeting of the contact group on Ukraine’s defence issues, more commonly known as the Ramstein format, are also scheduled.
On 14 July, the USA and NATO signed the PURL (Prioritised Ukraine Requirements List) agreement, which envisages sending US weapons to Ukraine at the expense of European countries, NATO coordinates the process.
According to the alliance’s Secretary General Mark Rutte, in the first months after the launch of the PURL project, more than two billion euros were collected. First of all, these funds are used to purchase weapons and ammunition that European arms manufacturers do not produce. Among them are air defence systems.
13 NATO countries have already joined the PURL initiative. However, despite the billions collected, the pace of financing has slowed down, and some major economies – Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Poland – are still outside the initiative, according to the material of Radio Liberty.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has publicly urged them to join, while NATO is discussing a fair distribution of the burden of military and financial aid to Ukraine.