THE HAGUE, Netherlands (Reuters) – NATO must move to an “even higher level of readiness” and boost its weapons capabilities on its eastern flank following the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, the Secretary General of the Transatlantic Alliance said on Tuesday.
Following informal talks in the Netherlands with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Danish, Polish, Latvian, Romanian, Portuguese and Belgian leaders, Jens Stoltenberg said NATO would “agree on a major reinforcement” of his posture at the summit scheduled for Madrid at the end of the month.
“Tonight we discussed the need for a more robust, combat-ready presence and an even higher degree of readiness, and more pre-positioned equipment,” he told reporters. .
While Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky called earlier today for more long-range weapons, Jens Stoltenberg said he agreed that Kyiv should receive more heavy weapons, but did not provide any details.
“NATO allies and partners have provided heavy weapons (…) and they are stepping up their efforts,” said NATO’s secretary general.
“In terms of armaments, we remain united on the fact that it is crucial that Russia loses the war,” said Mark Rutte.
“As we cannot have a direct confrontation between NATO troops and Russia, we must ensure that Ukraine can fight this war, that it has access to all the necessary armament,” he said. he added in front of the press in The Hague.
(Bart Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg report; French version Jean Terzian)
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