NATO wants to send more air defenses to Kyiv, refrains from concrete promises

by John Irish and Andrew Gray

BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO countries agreed on Thursday to dig into their weapons stockpiles to send additional air defense systems to Ukraine so it can better protect itself against missile attacks Russia’s ballistic missile defense, as the Alliance’s 75th anniversary is marked by war near its eastern flank.

“The allies understand the urgency” of the situation, declared NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg after a meeting in Brussels of the foreign ministers of the member countries, in which the leader also participated. of Ukrainian diplomacy, Dmitro Kouleba.

The latter repeated Kyiv’s request to send additional air defense systems, in particular American-made Patriot missiles.

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“The allies will now go through their inventories to see if they can provide more systems, particularly Patriots, obviously ensuring that the systems have the ammunition and spare parts” necessary, Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, for his part, stressed that it was all the more important to increase support for Ukraine as countries like China, Iran and North Korea support the Russia’s efforts to strengthen its industrial defense base.

Neither Jens Stoltenberg nor Antony Blinken have communicated a precise objective or made a concrete promise.

AN AUSTERE BIRTHDAY

Earlier in the day, the ceremony organized to mark the 75th anniversary of the Transatlantic Alliance, with cakes and fanfare, did not mask the austere atmosphere reigning in Brussels as the war in Ukraine entered its third in February year.

“I did not want to spoil NATO’s birthday celebration, but I felt obliged to deliver, on behalf of the Ukrainians, a sobering message about the state of Russian air attacks against my country,” he said. declared Dmitro Kouleba in front of journalists.

During the night from Wednesday to Thursday, Russia carried out drone attacks against residential buildings in the city of Kharkiv and energy infrastructure in the region, killing several people and depriving some 350,000 people of electricity, Ukrainian officials reported. .

“The biggest battles in NATO are yet to come and we must prepare for them,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told the press.

A NATO representative said Moscow was likely to recruit some 30,000 additional troops per month, which would allow it to counter losses on the front lines and continue its offensive.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, however, he added that Russia still faced a lack of munitions and maneuver units needed to achieve its goals.

On Wednesday, the foreign ministers of NATO countries agreed to prepare a long-term military aid package for Ukraine, without however committing to setting up a fund of 100 billion euros over five years as proposed by Jens Stoltenberg. Any decision by the Alliance must be taken unanimously by the 32 members.

THE SITUATION IN WASHINGTON CONCERNS EUROPEANS

Within the European Union, we are worried about the future of NATO if Donald Trump, very critical of the Alliance, were to return to the presidency of the United States to the detriment of current tenant of the White House, Joe Biden, after the election next November.

The political situation in Washington is already having an impact for Ukraine, with additional aid to Kyiv of tens of billions of dollars demanded by Joe Biden being blocked in Congress for several months. American support has been crucial since the start of the Russian offensive on February 24, 2022.

“Europe needs North America for its security,” Jens Stoltenberg stressed on Thursday. “But North America also needs Europe. European allies provide first-rate armies, vast intelligence networks and diplomatic leverage of their own,” he added.

Founded on April 4, 1949, in the midst of the Cold War, to respond to concerns about the military threat that the Soviet Union could represent for European democracies, NATO then had 12 members.

Its flagship role is to guarantee the collective defense of its members, with the principle that any attack against a member country represents an attack on the Alliance as a whole, guaranteeing Western Europe the protection of the United States.

After falling into disuse, NATO has regained a central role in world affairs with the Russian offensive in Ukraine, which Kyiv and its Western allies denounce as an invasion, having led European governments to see Moscow again as a threat to their security.

Finland and Sweden made a historic security shift after the start of the war, asking to join the Alliance, which was effective for Helsinki last year and for Stockholm earlier this year.

Moscow says it considers NATO enlargement as a threat to its security and believes that the bloc has entered into “direct confrontation” with Russia. The Alliance denies any offensive desire.

(Reporting Andrew Gray and John Irish, with contributions from Simon Lewis, Bart Meijer, Nette Nöstlinger and Ingrid Melander; French version Camille Raynaud, Kate Entringer and Jean Terzian)