↑ As of July2025[update] HQ-based only. 700 if accounted for collocated SAG-U with its assisting personnel in SHAPE, Casteau, Belgium, and NSATU's 2 logistics hubs: one in Rzeszów, Poland, and another under development in Câmpia Turzii, Romania. Australia and New Zealand are working closely with representatives of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in addition to 28 NATO countries.[4][12] Eventually 700 personnel are to be staffed in NSATU.[11]:44
↑ Starting December 2024, as dual-hatted COM SAG-U (since August 2024).
↑ Brigadier General P.H.G.H.Robichaud's full name is Patrick Henri George Hugh Robichaud.[14]
↑ Assistant Commander - Equipment Coordination and Logistical Support[15]
↑ As of August2025[update], facilitated under the command since NSATU is responsible for Poland LEN hub, which started in March 2025. Since NSATU inception, it has directly managed 1500 movements.[16]
↑ As of August2025[update], cargo tonnage facilitated through Poland LEN hub by NSATU only.
↑ As of July2025[update], coordinated since March 2025.[17]
↑ Current NSATU–SAG-U joint efforts that were confirmed at the 21 July 2025 UDCG extended meeting:
US–NATO co‑funding mechanism (new channel announced by US president Donald Trump and Secretary General of NATO Mark Rutte for European and Canadian allies to pool funds to purchase US‑made weapons and technology for Ukraine providing faster access to high‑demand systems);
Air defense boost (packages of Patriot missile systems and other advanced air‑defense assets pledged by allies to counter Russia’s intensified missile and drone strikes);
Industrial and financial backing (long‑term funding streams to expand defense production capacity in Europe and North America to replenish stocks while sustaining Ukraine’s needs over multiple years).[18]
Precededby International Donors Coordination Centre
The NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine (abbr. NSATU), also known as the Ukraine mission,[20] is a NATOcommand inaugurated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the NATO summit in Washington in July 2024 with the stated task "to plan, coordinate, and arrange delivery of security assistance that Ukraine needs to prevail in its fight today, and in the future."[21] NATO stated that the command was to "build upon and complement organizations already in place."[22] The command is headquartered at Clay Kaserne, the U.S. military base in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim.[20]
Enduring, predictable, coherent support to Ukraine through the coordination of Allied logistics, training, and planning efforts on and up to 24-month horizon
Development framework
Training areas
Logistics hubs
Technical cells
Ukraine-organized 4-monthly OFDeF conferences, in support
Senior Enlisted Leader; Ukraine Military Representative, ACOS-SHAPE staff supplement (both 1-star ranked); DCOM (all four under COM). Under DCOM (2-star):[6][27]
ACOM-Training
ACOM-Equipment Coordination and Logistical Support, ECLS (Capability Integration Branch and the Liaison Officer element, Maintenance, and Logistics Branches, Data Fusion Cell, and the Operations and Plans Branch)
ACOM-Force Development Support (Coordination and Synchronization Support AFU, Design Enhance, Resources Optimize, Insights and Plans)
Mission assessment criteria
Qualitatively: progress to desired end states
Quantatively: cargo throughput tonnage provided; number of AFU personnel trainees coordinated
According to the information released by NATO 11 July 2024, NSATU was to have around 700 personnel to be headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany.[21] According to the NATO statement, NSATU would have "three main focus areas: oversee training of Ukrainian armed forces at training facilities in Allied countries; provide support to the long-term development of Ukraine’s Armed Forces; support Ukraine through planning, coordination of donations with Allies and partners, transfer of security assistance material, and repair of equipment."[21] The statement clarified, "These efforts do not make NATO a party to the conflict, but enhance support to Ukraine’s self defence."[21]
Leadership and command
Lieutenant General Curtis A. Buzzard, US Army, serves as the inaugural commander of NSATU and is dual-hatted as the Commander of the Security Assistance Group – Ukraine (SAG-U). Buzzard was nominated for his third star assignment to the Wiesbaden-based Ukraine support command in July 2024, assuming the additional NATO position in December 2024.[e] Buzzard’s leadership role as both NSATU and SAG-U commander reflects the transition of support coordination from an American-led, bilateral SAG-U to a genuine NATO-led, multinational command. The dual-hatting also unifies reporting structures and minimizes redundancy between American and NATO systems.[29]
The post of Deputy Commander at NSATU is occupied by Major General Maik Keller, German Army, who assumed the role in May 2025, according to Ukrainian and NATO official briefings.[30][31] Keller’s appointment represents Bundeswehr commitment to NSATU operations in Wiesbaden HQ and at logistics hubs, with German officers rotating through key leadership positions. Other staff rotations and handovers are subject to the periodic reorganization typical of NATO multinational headquarters.
Organizational structure
As of August2025[update], staffed by around 350 core personnel, representing as many as 31 NATO and partner nations, NSATU integrates several Indo-Pacific partners, notably Australia and New Zealand personnel, and Ukrainian liaison officers who form a central element in requirements identification and real-time operational dialogue.[16][31]
NSATU operates as a NATO command under Allied Command Operations (ACO), with reporting lines through the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) at SHAPE. Its mandate, governance, and planning priorities are established by the North Atlantic Council on the advice of the Defense Policy and Planning Committee (DPPC), consistent with the NATO Defense Planning Process (NDPP).[32] NSATU does not act as an “operating force,” but instead as a joint, multinational coordination and oversight body for international security assistance and training.[33]
NSATU’s role is distinct from, but closely coordinated with, several major bilateral and EU multi-lateral efforts: the EU Military Assistance Mission for Ukraine (EUMAM UA), the UK's Operation Interflex, Canada’s Operation UNIFIER, the US-led JMTG-Ukraine, and others.[f][16][36]
Headquarters and operational sites
Wiesbaden has for years served as a U.S. Army Europe command hub, and since November 2022, Clay Kaserne has servedd as the location for the US-led SAG-U before its shift to NATO’s multilateral command after 2024. The selection of this site—a major NATO facility with extensive infrastructure, secure communications, and robust transport links—was intended to enable high-volume, secure operational coordination of bulk flows required by the Ukraine mission.[4]
The primary logistics enabling node for NSATU, a location functioning as the main logistics and repair hub for Western aid to Ukraine during the earlier phases of the war.[37] There is a dense presence of US, NATO, Polish, and other allied forces in Rzeszów; runway activity and customs data confirm immense throughput capacities for weapons, vehicles, and medical evacuations.[11]:50–51 Beginning in January 2025, NSATU's coordination of security in Rzeszów includes two German Patriot batteries stationed in eastern Poland to provide integrated air and missile defense of the hub against air threats.[38]
The logistics node at Câmpia Turzii, Romania, is being scaled up as a secondary logistics enabling node. The base, known as "Baza 71 Aeriană General Emanoil Ionescu", houses, among others, US multi-role fighter squadrons and drone units, and is being upgraded according to NATO-funded expansion contracts. As of October2025[update], Câmpia Turzii is not reported to be at operational parity with Rzeszów but is being developed as an additional logistics corridor and redundancy, while risk of cross-border traffic exposure in Poland persists.[25]
The NSATU staff footprint is further supplemented by personnel at SHAPE in Casteau, Belgium, as well as liaison/coordination points at two logistics nodes. These numbers account for the cited "up to 700" personnel figure, which includes "assisting personnel" distributed across NSATU HQ, SHAPE, and node sites.[g][6]
Interviews with NSATU’s Deputy Commander, German and Ukrainian sources, and UK defense journalists confirm a throughput rate of at least 18,000 tons of materiel per month via NSATU's Rzeszów hub with over 60,000 tracked movements since NSATU assumed responsibility in March 2025.[17]
A critical dimension in official European and Ukrainian statements is that NATO and NSATU do not deliver aid directly into Ukraine. All materials are delivered to and must be collected from designated logistics nodes on NATO alliance territory. This deliberate, repeated distinction is emphasized at the highest levels (NATO, German, UK MoD, and Ukrainian Defense Ministry), and is central to assuaging alliance member concerns regarding escalation and direct involvement in the conflict.[21]
Every two to three months, NSATU organizes maintenance working groups involving donor countries, Western defense industry representatives, Ukrainian officials, and sometimes front-line Ukrainian unit experts. This process has been effective in resolving spare parts shortages (an example being the repair of a Patriot radar).[40][16]
Training roles and programmes
NSATU’s training coordination function is to harmonize the identification of Ukrainian training needs, match them to allied capacity, for scheduling and reporting processes. Training is not delivered by NSATU staff but by participating nations under the coordination umbrella provided by NSATU.[41]
Prominent among the delivery agents are the EU Military Assistance Mission in Support of Ukraine (EUMAM UA), the UK’s Operation Interflex, Canada’s Operation UNIFIER, and several bilateral arrangements coordinated through the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine (JMTG-U), US-led.[34] EUMAM UA alone, operating through its commands in Germany and Poland, has taken a leading role since its creation, with other major contributors from the US, UK, and NATO international training groupings of no fewer than 18 countries by early 2025.[h][31] A hallmark of the training system is the involvement of Ukrainian instructors in “train-the-trainer” programs. NSATU actively enables Ukrainian personnel to assume increasing roles in all training efforts.[31]
As of July2025[update], output reporting states the cumulative figure for Ukrainian troops trained under SAG–U/NSATU-coordinated programs at over 192,000 since February 2022.[11]:44 Table 10[10]:46 Infobox The scale and reach of these programs - spanning 140+ different training areas globally - are validated in NATO and UK defense press also affirmed in Ukrainian MoD and NATO press releases.[6] The figure includes ongoing, cyclical basic and specialist training delivered outside Ukraine, primarily in Poland, Germany, the UK, and other NATO states territories.[16]
Multinational partner coordination
Much of NSATU’s day-to-day work is organizing and deconflicting a wide array of partner-led contributions to Ukraine, from logistics delivery and training, to medical support and capability enhancement. This is achieved through direct participation in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (the "Ramstein Format" with its "capability coalitions" and interoperability standards applied, e.g., donated armor, artillery, and air defense equipment from dozen of countries is fielded without compatibility issues), which have shifted substantial planning and execution burden to NSATU oversight since February 2025.[34]
According to NATO representative Ariella Viehe, NSATU coordinated the first four military deliveries packages—worth a total of around $2 billion and funded by the Netherlands (4 August 2025), Denmark, Norway and Sweden (5 August), Germany (13 August), and Canada (24 August)—under the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List initiative (PURL), a mechanism to deliver urgently needed equipment from US stockpiles to Ukraine.[34][42] Major bilateral and coalition contributions highlighted in European defense reporting illustrate increasing European leadership in direct aid flows, with Germany, the UK, the EU collectively, and Norway each surpassed €1 billion in defense-specific commitments for Ukraine in 2024 alone.[17]
Permanent Ukrainian representatives operate within the command structures of three organizations, and senior staff regularly rotate between EUMAM UA ST-C, SAG-U, and NSATU headquarters for briefings and joint planning. European reports point to the embedded nature of Ukrainian military liaison teams, not only in the headquarters but also at each operational node. This structure ensures nearly real-time synchronization of operational requirement signals (supply shortfalls, urgent instructional needs, etc.) with NATO and partner systems.[16]
24-month planning horizon
The two-year rolling planning visibility window is intended neither as a fixed, immovable plan nor a simple ammunition spreadsheet, but as an operational "forecast horizon" for donors' procurement and training cycles to synchronize with Ukraine’s own force development and sustainment plans. European partners, in particular, have advocated for this approach to provide "predictability for Kyiv" and allow for more efficient long-term logistics contracts, defense industry ramp-ups, and training program design. Regular Operation Force Development Framework conferences in Poland, organized by Ukraine and supporred by NSATU and SAG–U, provide for information sharing and planning process cycling.[34] Interviews with German and Ukrainian staff emphasize the goal of giving Ukraine at least six months of assured visibility into upcoming donations so it can better plan operational launches and minimize the uncertainty of late-stage material gaps.[16]
In early October 2024, President of CroatiaZoran Milanović stated, "The vast majority of citizens of Croatia oppose any and every form of active involvement of Croatia in the conflict in Ukraine" and that he believes the planning and operational help provided by NSATU goes too far.[44][45]
↑ The LEN-P synchronizes the inbound aid receipt, transfer and onward movement of donated materiel to the AFU. The RDC-U is responsible for the maintenance and repair of equipment once donated to the AFU.[11]:50–51
↑ Starting December 2024, as dual-hatted COM SAG-U (since August 2024).[1]
↑ Minimum coordinated, and managed directly, by NSATU respectively.[16]
↑ As of October2025[update], contingency facility; under renovation. On 17 September 2025, Romanian president requested parliamentary approval for establishment of the LEN-R Command.[25]
↑ Joint and Trilateral Cooperation: Mechanisms and Milestones
Formal and Operational Integration
From 2025 onwards, joint activities by EUMAM UA, NSATU, and SAG-U to reach operational coherence include:
Joint Training Conferences: Used to realign priorities, share outcomes and lessons learned, and agree on standards for training content, delivery, and evaluation.
Reciprocal Information Exchange: All three organizations maintain open channels for intelligence sharing, doctrinal alignment, and operational planning to reduce redundancies and ensure resources reach the front where most needed;[34]
Joint Equipment and Sustainment Working Groups
The NSATU Capability Sustainment Working Group (CSWG), launched in January 2025, involves three organizations. Its remit includes:
Joint troubleshooting of supply and sustainment bottlenecks —particularly for complex NATO-standard equipment now flooding into Ukraine’s inventory.
Inclusion of Ukrainian defense industry representatives, paving the way for international contract integration and domestic capability-building;[34]
Integrated Lessons Learned and Doctrinal Development
The partnership has resulted in rapid adaptation, among other, of:
battlefield lessons - with integration into both EUMAM UA and NSATU curricula and propagated across all donor nations;
a shared template for End-of-Training Reports (ETRs) capturing and disseminating best practices, challenges, and innovations
N.B.: As of October2025[update], EUMAM UA, akin to NSATU, operates only on EU/EU+ territory. Any proposal for in-country training is contingent on a future truce or agreement.[35]
The collaboration at the Special Training Command (ST-C) in Strausberg, Germany serves as an exemplar of EU-NATO synergy. In July 2025, meetings between Brigadier General Maurice Timmermans (DCOM EUMAM UA) and Major General Maik Keller (DCOM NSATU) formalized a unified training pipeline:
EUMAM UA delivers training for Ukrainian soldiers.
NSATU leads on doctrine, best practices, and evaluation—ensuring that all graduates are not only skilled but NATO-interoperable.
↑ "Netherlands uses new NATO channel to pay for US arms for Ukraine". Reuters.com. 4 August 2025. Retrieved 4 August 2025. In a statement, the alliance said, "Working closely with Ukraine and the United States, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe Alexus Grynkewich will validate packages that correspond to Ukraine's needs, such as air defence, ammunition and other critical equipment for rapid delivery from U.S. stockpiles".
↑ Jans, Karljin (18 March 2022). "Will Russia's invasion boost NATO's budget?". Clingendal Institute. Archived from the original on 31 May 2023. Retrieved 8 October 2025. [...]which goes beyond the idea of the 2% target. This will require focusing on Alliance readiness levels with, at the centre the NATO Defence Planning Process, addressing the full spectrum of challenges.
↑ Ti, Ronald. "9. Logistics Lessons Observed: A Critical Enabler and Vulnerability". Tactical and Strategic Insights from the Russo-Ukrainian War. p.184-202. doi:10.47788/VPNU6680. The first of these 'lessons observed' is that resilient operational logistics remains an essential ingredient for success.
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NAC (DPPC ) [a] 
Ukraine (recipient)
NATO (provider)
Germany, Hesse 50°02′59″N8°19′31″E / 50.0498°N 8.3254°E 
