Overview

• U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth urged allies in Brussels to increase European purchases of U.S. weapons via the PURL mechanism, which has about $2 billion committed so far.
• Germany announced it will finance a $500 million U.S. weapons package, while partners highlighted recent deliveries including roughly 85,000 UK-provided drones and new Dutch funding for Ukraine’s drone production.
• NATO leaders are debating lifting national caveats to give SACEUR more flexibility and are accelerating tests of integrated counter-drone systems as allies respond to recent airspace incidents in Poland and Estonia.
• EU officials are advancing a proposed “drone wall,” though skepticism persists in some capitals over scope and coordination with NATO.
• President Volodymyr Zelensky meets President Donald Trump on Friday, with Kyiv seeking approval for long-range Tomahawks that are not on the NATO agenda, as Western aid has fallen 43% in July–August and Russian strikes keep targeting Ukraine’s energy grid.