NATO Allies Pledge $1 Billion in U.S. Weapons for Ukraine via PURL Initiative

NATO defense ministers gathered at alliance headquarters in Brussels on Thursday, June 18, 2026, followed immediately by a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. The contact group announced a $1 billion weapons package for Ukraine to be paid to the United States through the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, or PURL, initiative.

NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte told reporters after the sessions that the “window of opportunity” was the main topic of discussion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov joined the contact-group session. Fedorov said the total value of aid packages announced that day stood at about $1 billion but could exceed $4 billion. Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Lithuania, Latvia, Denmark, Croatia, and Iceland agreed to purchase American weapons for Ukraine through the PURL program, Rutte said.

U.S. funding. K. Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis announced a roughly $990 million military aid package that includes 150,000 drones, more than 350 air defense missiles, and radar systems, funded through seized Russian assets.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany will contribute $400 million for air-defense ammunition and that Berlin and Kyiv have agreed to joint development of anti-ballistic capabilities and joint production of unmanned ground vehicles in Germany for delivery to Ukraine.

U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth attended the NATO defense ministers meeting but left before the contact-group session and returned to the United States. Undersecretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby participated virtually.