At the summit in Washington, outgoing Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced planned measures to support Ukraine. Among these, German news portals reported that the alliance is creating a separate NATO command within these frameworks. the world He stressed this in a report published on the front page of a prestigious conservative daily newspaper.
Support to Ukraine from Germany will be coordinated in the future.
The command will be responsible for the defense of Ukraine and will be based in Wiesbaden, Hesse. NATO's announcement stressed that “the goal is to put support for Ukraine on a permanent basis, thus providing better, predictable and coherent support.”
Preparations are reportedly set to begin in the coming days. Wiesbaden was home to the European headquarters of the US Armed Forces, where in 2022 a unit of around 300 people was set up to support Ukraine. According to plans, the staff will now be expanded to around 700 people, and Germany wants to delegate around 40 people, including a two-star general as deputy commander, according to Die Welt.
According to the newspaper, the new NATO project is a kind of “precautionary measure” in case former President Donald Trump becomes the leader of the United States again from January 2025. According to the newspaper, the alliance fears that Trump's “return” will affect support for Ukraine and coordination of relevant activities.
According to German media, a separate US-German agreement was reached during the NATO summit, according to which the United States will deploy Tomahawk missiles and other long-range weapons in Germany from 2026. Die Welt newspaper pointed out that their range is much greater than that of current European weapons systems.
Tomahawk missiles, similar to the German Taurus unmanned aerial vehicles, can penetrate deep into enemy territory while flying at low altitude and destroy important targets.
The German Defense Minister was among the first to welcome the American decision in this regard. Deutschlandfunk Speaking on the radio, Boris Pistorius literally expressed his “relief” that the United States is once again installing long-range weapons in Germany. According to the minister, with this decision it is possible to eliminate a significant security gap in the defense of NATO territory. The minister also noted that the need for long-range weapons is also recorded in the German national security strategy.
Tomahawk missiles have a range of more than 2,000 kilometers, while Taurus missiles, which the Ukrainians have been ordering from Germany for some time, have a range of 500 kilometers.
Tomahawk missiles are launched from ships or submarines, while Taurus missiles are launched from aircraft.
According to the radio, in addition to the Tomahawk missiles, SM-5 air defense missiles and newly developed hypersonic weapons will also be deployed in Germany.
