Hegseth urges NATO to buy and donate US arms for Ukraine under PURL

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged NATO allies on Wednesday to buy and donate more American weapons for Ukraine and warned that the United States and its partners are prepared to impose costs on Russia if the war does not end, speaking as defense ministers met at NATO headquarters in Brussels. Hegseth promoted the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List, known as PURL, as the mechanism through which allies should funnel purchases to increase Ukraine's firepower.

Hegseth told reporters that the expectation at the meeting was for "more countries donate even more, that they purchase even more" to bolster Kyiv and help bring the conflict to a peaceful conclusion. He added that the United States "stands ready to do our part in ways that only the United States can do" if partners decide to take steps to impose additional costs on Russia, but he did not elaborate on what those steps would include.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said he expected further pledges to PURL and noted that about 2 billion had already been committed through the mechanism, short of the 3.5 billion Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had sought by October. Sweden, Estonia and Finland pledged...