Italy Plans to Provide $1.7bn in New Military Aid to Ukraine - Media

Italy is preparing to commit $1.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine next year.

This was reported by Corriere della Sera.

According to the report, this is Italy's share of the total $40 billion in aid to Ukraine that NATO is discussing.

According to the plan, half of the contribution, flexibly distributed between direct military assistance, goods and services, and exercises, will be provided by the United States, and the remaining $20 billion will be provided by European Allies.

In the first two years of the full-scale war, Rome provided Kyiv with an estimated €1.2 billion in aid every 12 months. This includes the direct cost of weapons or the cost of other goods and services.

Now, Italy is pledging to do more - the contribution should increase by about €400 million.

However, it is expected that NATO states will give a political rather than a legal commitment to allocate the full amount, which somewhat weakens the original plans.

It is not yet known whether this commitment will be a one-off, which is likely, or an annual one, as NATO and the White House had originally intended.

To recap, Italy will provide Ukraine with another SAMP-T air defence system to shoot down Russian missiles. This will be part of the commitments made by several NATO countries to strengthen Ukraine's air defence at the Washington summit.

The day before, on the first day of the NATO summit in Washington, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy and Romania announced the transfer of five Patriot and SAMP-T strategic air defence systems, as well as dozens of tactical air defence systems to Ukraine.