Ukraine war live updates: NATO commander announces 100 billion euro fund for Kyiv; Ukraine knocks down 4 Russian drones overnight.

NATO foreign ministers are gathering in Brussels, where the alliance’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is proposing a five-year, 100 billion euro ($107 billion) military and financial fund for Ukraine. It is not yet apparent where the money would come from.

The U.K.’s Foreign Minister, David Cameron, is simultaneously pressing member states to invest more in the military and enhance industrial production, saying it is crucial if the alliance wants Ukraine to beat Russia.

Elsewhere, Ukraine’s air defenses shot down four Iranian-made Shahen drones fired from Russia overnight, its air force said in a statement.

Ukraine’s defense minister congratulated Finland for the 188 million euro ($202.5 million) military aid package the Nordic country announced for Kyiv, explaining the two countries’ latest collaboration in a post on X.

“I am grateful to our Finnish partners and Minister Anttihakkanen for another military aid package for Ukraine valued at up to €188 million,” Rustem Umerov stated in his post. “We also strengthened our defense cooperation; today, Ukraine and Finland signed an agreement on security cooperation and long-term support.”

“Finland will provide long-term military and financial assistance and step up political, financial, humanitarian, and reform cooperation,” the post read. “Together, we are stronger. Thank you for your steadfast support.”

Ukraine’s new law lowering the military mobilization age from 27 to 25 went into force on Wednesday, after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the legislation a day earlier. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, enacted the law in May 2023.

The lowered mobilization age “is one of many measures that Ukraine has been considering in an ongoing effort to create a sustainable wartime force-generation apparatus” and “will support the Ukrainian military’s ability to restore and reconstitute existing units and to create new units,” the U.S.-based think tank Institute for the Study of War wrote in a report.

“Ukraine will need to equip any newly mobilized military personnel with weapons, and prolonged US debates about military aid to Ukraine and delays in Western aid may impact the speed at which Ukraine can restore degraded units and stand up new units,” the report said, adding that Western-provided equipment remains the “greatest deciding factor” in the Ukrainian military’s combat abilities.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba met with his Danish colleague Lars Løkke Rasmussen during a NATO foreign ministers conference in Brussels and praised him for his government’s assistance in a post on X.

“I began my day at NATO HQ in Brussels by meeting my Danish colleague and friend @LarsLoekke. I am grateful to Denmark for its excellent support for Ukraine: military aid, investment, recovery, and other assistance,” the post read.

“We discussed Ukraine’s priority needs in military aid, particularly air defense systems and missiles. I am particularly glad that Denmark is working on a new military aid package to bolster our defense.”

NATO has returned to a Cold War frame of mind, Russia’s foreign ministry claimed, as the alliance’s officials are meeting in Brussels during the week of the organization’s 75-year anniversary.

“Today, in relations with Russia, the bloc has returned to Cold War settings,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told the press, according to a translation by Reuters.

Zakharova said NATO has no place in a “multipolar world” and that its 75th birthday is no occasion to celebrate, Reuters reported.

British Foreign Minister David Cameron asked NATO countries to devote more to defense investment and production as the coalition expands. He will offer a speech to that affect as NATO foreign ministers assemble in Brussels.

“Seventy-five years after its creation, we are celebrating a NATO that has never been stronger or more important, especially following Sweden’s accession last month,” Cameron said in pre-prepared remarks released on the U.K. foreign office website.

“With Ukraine closer to NATO than ever, we must sustain the critical support Ukraine needs to win the war,” Cameron said. “Allies need to step up and spend more on defense in the face of continued Russian aggression and a more dangerous world.”

Ukrainian air defenses shot down four Russian drones overnight in the eastern Donetsk region, the country’s military claimed.

“On the night of April 3, 2024, the enemy attacked the Donetsk region with three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles and launched 4 Shahed-136/131 UAVs from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk area of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian state news outlet Ukrinform quoted the country’s air force as saying in a statement.

“Mobile fire groups” intercepted the Iranian-made Shahed drones in the regions of Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, and Cherkasy, the statement claimed.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg will allegedly propose a 100 billion euro ($107 billion) military aid fund for Ukraine on Wednesday, the lifespan of which would be five years.

The package would empower the transatlantic alliance to aid Ukraine more directly, Reuters claimed, citing five unnamed diplomats.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has approved a measure to decrease the mobilisation age for combat duty to 25 from 27, the parliament’s website revealed. Admiral Alexander Moiseyev was confirmed on Tuesday as the new leader of Russia’s navy.

Moiseyev took on the post in an acting capacity two weeks ago. Local media reported that his predecessor, Admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, was removed following a series of successful Ukrainian raids on Russia’s navy in the Black Sea.

While Ukraine does not have its own fleet, Kyiv has targeted Russian warships on the Black Sea multiple times since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022 and last month claimed to have destroyed a Russian landing ship.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed Moiseyev’s appointment on a conference call Tuesday, according to a Reuters report. He also presented the nomination of Vice Admiral Konstantin Kabantsov as commander of Russia’s Northern Fleet and Vice Admiral Sergei Pinchuk as head of the Black Sea Fleet.