Hello and welcome to NewsHour live from the BBC World Service in London. I'm Rebecca Kesbby.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has been in Brussels today meeting NATO partners to discuss the situation in Ukraine.

Whilst Ukraine isn't a NATO member, most of its military aid and intelligence support

for its defence against Russia's invasion is coming from countries signed up to the North Atlantic

Treaty Organisation. It's a military pact that was forged between Western allies after World War

2, a promise to defend each other should any NATO member come under attack.

Well, there may be a certain amount of nervousness at NATO headquarters in Brussels at the moment

following the election victory of Donald Trump. The president-elect once said he would

encourage Russia to attack any NATO member that failed to meet the

alliance's target of spending 2% of GDP on defense. He even threatened to pull America,

the biggest, most important member, out of NATO in the past. Now, Mr Trump didn't repeat

that threat during the recent campaign and today the outgoing Secretary of State Anthony Blinken

tried to strike a reassuring tone of U.S. commitment to the fight in Ukraine.

The United States continues to step up.

We've obligated just recently and pushed out the door.

Another $8 billion in security assistance for Ukraine.

That was in September.

Another almost half a billion dollars just a few weeks ago.

And President Biden is committed to making sure that every dollar we have at our disposal

will be pushed out the door between now and January 20th.

We're making sure that Ukraine has the air defenses it needs, that it has the artillery it needs, that has the armored

vehicles it needs.

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