NATO forms NSATU, a support mission for Ukraine with logistics centers in Poland and Romania

The NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) mission, charged with providing support to Ukraine against Russia, will have around 700 staff headquartered in bases in Germany, Poland and Romania, according to the new secretary general of the organization, Mark Rutte.

NSATU is set to take over the coordination of military aid from the US. The move is largely seen as an effort to safeguard the aid mechanism from a potential return of Donald Trump, a NATO critic, to the White House. However, US aid to Ukraine remains vital to the latter in its resistance to Russia.

"The message to Russian leader Vladimir Putin is that we will continue, that we will do what is necessary to ensure he does not get what he wants, that Ukraine will win," Rutte said in a joint interview with Reuters and German public radio Hessischer Rundfunk on Monday, October 14, cited by News.ro.

Rutte visited Clay Barracks, one of the bases that will host NSATU in Wiesbaden, Germany. Allied troops from over 10 countries are already working there. The mission will later move to a nearby hangar and will be supplemented by Ukrainian troops.

In total, NSATU is expected to have a total staff of about 700, including troops stationed at NATO’s military headquarters SHAPE in Belgium and at logistical centers in Poland and Romania.

The Wiesbaden base also hosts the US unit responsible for long-range missiles that Washington will temporarily deploy in Germany starting in 2026, to counter what both countries describe as a threat posed by Russian missiles stationed near Kaliningrad, roughly 500 kilometers from Berlin. Rutte emphasized the importance of NATO having the full range of capabilities needed to deter a Russian threat.

(Photo source: Mark Rutte on X)