NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine
The NATO Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine, also known as the "Ukraine mission", is a NATO command 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." NATO stated that the command was to "build upon and complement organizations already in place." The command is headquartered at Clay Kaserne, the U.S. military base in Wiesbaden-Erbenheim.
Strength and goals
According to the information released by NATO 11 July 2024, NSATU was to have around 700 personnel to be headquartered in Wiesbaden, Germany. 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." The statement clarified, "These efforts do not make NATO a party to the conflict, but enhance support to Ukraine’s self defence."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. 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. 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.
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. 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
, 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.NSATU operates as a NATO command under Allied Command Operations, with reporting lines through the Supreme Allied Commander Europe 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, consistent with the NATO Defense Planning Process. NSATU does not act as an “operating force,” but instead as a joint, multinational coordination and oversight body for international security assistance and training.
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, the UK's Operation Interflex, Canada’s Operation UNIFIER, the US-led JMTG-Ukraine, and others.
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 sitea major NATO facility with extensive infrastructure, secure communications, and robust transport linkswas intended to enable high-volume, secure operational coordination of bulk flows required by the Ukraine mission.
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 is Logistics Enabling Node - Poland. 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. NSATU's logistics node from early 2025, it coordinates the reception, staging, onward movement, and maintenance support for donated equipment and personnel destined for Ukraine. LEN‑P’s operational remit — including RSOM, repair and maintenance facilitation, accountability, and retrograde enablement — complements US DoW's remote maintenance efforts. Specifically, LEN-P works alongside the Remote Maintenance and Distribution Cell‑Ukraine, which was established in July 2022. The US Army supported RDC-U activities by awarding a major maintenance task order on 5 December 2022.
LEN‑P functions as the physical logistics hub responsible for receiving equipment and personnel, coordinating staging and transfers between donating nations, maintaining accountability and dispatch records. These core tasks are reflected in continuous, on‑the‑ground activity at the Rzeszów-Jasionka Airport logistics hub, a conduit for multinational aid to Ukraine. The significant throughput at Jasionka prompted adjustments in US force posture while logistics operations continued under Polish and NATO leadership. LEN‑P’s physical handling and staging of equipment complements RDC‑U’s remote maintenance mission: LEN‑P moves and accounts for materiel, while RDC‑U provides remote technical guidance and coordinates repair actions. Army Contracting Command and TACOM contracting personnel adhered to Federal Acquisition Regulation procedures in awarding the RDC‑U maintenance task order. This adherence included conducting market research, developing an acquisition plan, and utilizing a qualified evaluation team, thereby ensuring contractor selection aligned with established policy and operational needs.
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.
The logistics node at Câmpia Turzii, Romania, is being scaled up as a secondary logistics enabling node. Logistics Enabling Node — Romania is a multinational logistics node established to receive, stage, account for, and onward‑move defense articles and personnel destined for Ukraine. LEN‑R operates under allied coordination and host‑nation authorities to provide secure throughput, inventory control, and chain‑of‑custody for donated and transferred materiel.
LEN‑R’s primary missions include RSOM, secure storage and accountability; and retrograde/repair facilitation for materiel transiting to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. National sources indicate Romania has identified infrastructure and authorized personnel to host LEN‑R facilities under national and NATO authorities. It complements other logistics nodes, including LEN‑P, by providing allied throughput and interfacing with US and allied maintenance and contracting efforts. 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., 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.
NSATU official reporting and allied coverage describe NSATU’s coordinating role; public reporting and evaluations document LEN‑P and LEN‑R operational roles and host‑nation actions. 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.
Logistics, maintenance, repair and overhaul operations
NSATU draws lessons from earlier military logistics operations. LEN-P’s MRO activity is largely accomplished by commercial contractors, but to push similar efforts into the near-battlespace requires a similar scale but consisting mostly of military technicians. As weapons systems from multiple nations have poured into Ukraine, the need to sustain those disparate systems has escalated; resulting in a call for Field Service Representatives from defense industry.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.
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, and is central to assuaging alliance member concerns regarding escalation and direct involvement in the conflict.
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.
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.Prominent among the delivery agents are the EU Military Assistance Mission in Support of Ukraine, the UK’s Operation Interflex, Canada’s Operation UNIFIER, and several bilateral arrangements coordinated through the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine, US-led. 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. 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.
, output reporting states the cumulative figure for Ukrainian troops trained under SAG–U/NSATU-coordinated programs at over 192,000 since February 2022. 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. The figure includes ongoing, cyclical basic and specialist training delivered outside Ukraine, primarily in Poland, Germany, the UK, and other NATO states territories.