VIENNA, October 29. /TASS/. NATO is becoming an official arms store for Kiev despite insisting it is not a party to the Ukraine conflict, said Dmitry Polyansky, Russia’s permanent representative to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

He was commenting on the alliance’s plans to allow Kiev to purchase weapons directly through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).

"The alliance, which insists at every opportunity that it is not a party to the conflict, is becoming an official arms store for Kiev," he told a regular meeting of the OSCE Permanent Council. TASS has obtained the text of his remarks.

Polyansky noted that European countries continue to buy weapons for Ukraine. He recalled that European Council President Antonio Costa had said the European Union was prepared to cover about €46.7 billion of Kiev’s €70 billion in funding needs for 2027, including roughly €40 billion in military spending. The UK has also announced a 10-billion-pound aid package (around $13.3 billion) for Ukraine.