(Bloomberg) -- The establishment of a new NATO command center for coordinating training and security assistance to Ukraine is running behind schedule, according to people familiar with the matter.
The NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine command was supposed to open in Wiesbaden, Germany, this fall with 700 personnel. Instead, the center is still ramping up, with a few hundred on staff. Many posts still unfilled as countries have been slow to send the promised personnel, added the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive issues.
The command was one of the key commitments NATO members made at the alliance’s summit back in July.
By establishing this hub, it agreed to take on a greater role in coordinating military assistance and training for Ukraine to bring more predictability to Ukraine aid and insulate it against political change in the US, amid fears President-elect Donald Trump may roll back US support.
Since 2022, military assistance to Ukraine has been coordinated by the US-led Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which regularly convened over 50 participating countries at the Ramstein airbase in Germany. The US has said that the contact group will continue operating in tandem with the new NATO command center.
In mid-October, two weeks after taking office, NATO’s new secretary general, Mark Rutte, traveled to Germany to visit the hub.
A NATO official said the command is still being set up, with personnel in both Wiesbaden and at logistical hubs in the eastern part of the alliance.
NATO foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, with Ukraine at the top of the agenda.
--With assistance from Michael Nienaber and Natalia Drozdiak.
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