NATO's Military Committee Chairman, Admiral Rob Bauer announced that the new NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (NSATU) will start operating at the end of this year.

In an exclusive interview Interfax-Ukraine, Bauer said Ukraine and the alliance "are growing closer and closer together through the decisions that have been made." "And that means that we are working on interoperability when it comes to the armed forces. Ukraine now has a myriad of different weapons systems that has been provided by the nations that support them. But of course, in the longer term, you don't want so many different systems of tanks and artillery pieces," he said.

"So, part of the discussion that we will have with Ukraine in NSATU is about the future of the Ukrainian armed forces, a discussion on a form of standardization, which types of tanks, which types of armoured vehicles, of artillery, aircraft, all the things that armed forces need. If you standardize it will cost less, you will need less training. So, it is an important process," Bauer said.

At the same time, the chairman of the Military Committee said the focus now is on "making sure that you are winning the war, that you can continue the fight to defend your nation. And therefore, the focus is now less on standardization, but it is extremely important."

"And we need to ensure that Ukraine can win this war, by keeping you in the fight, by training your soldiers. We will help you with the training, we will help you with the capabilities, we will help you with the ammunition. That's the role NSATU is now going to play," Bauer said.

According to him, the process of creating the NSATU team is currently underway, which requires infrastructure. "The nations need to send people to this headquarter. And the idea is now that by the end of this year, we will have that command, as they say, initially operational capable. That means it can start its work. We are ensuring that it is seamless transition, from SAG-U [Security Assistance Group – Ukraine] to NSATU so that all the support will continue uninterrupted," the NATO's Military Committee chairman said.

Bauer called NSATU "one of the pillars of NATO's support for Ukraine." He named JATEC in Poland (JATEC – Analysis, Training, and Education Centre) as the second 'pillar of support' and the third – financial support, 'as we agreed at NATO summit in Washington to provide EURO 40 billion in funding next year."

"JATEC is important because it's the first joint NATO-Ukraine institution, with civilians and military personnel, under Allied Command Transformation, that is now going to work on the lessons learned from Ukraine. It will help Ukraine during the fight, to make sure that the lessons that are learned find their way into the assistance, in the training, in the weapon systems and the ammunition. We also want to learn the lessons from the war in Ukraine for future warfare," he said.