Brussels (EFE).- The Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, insisted this Tuesday on the urgency of providing Ukraine with the tanks, heavy artillery, anti-aircraft defense and ammunition promised by its Western partners, on suspicion that Russia is preparing for new offensives.
“The urgent thing now is to deliver what has already been promised,” Stoltenberg told the press upon his arrival at the headquarters of the Atlantic Alliance, which today hosts a new meeting of the coalition of more than 50 countries that are supporting Ukraine and another of the allied defense ministers.
The Norwegian politician has advanced that the United Kingdom has already begun to train Ukrainian pilots and that the allies are consulting on the delivery of combat aircraft to Kiev, but has made it clear that the priority is to provide Ukraine with armored combat vehicles , tanks and ammunition.
“Next week marks one year since the terrible war in Ukraine, Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine. And we see no sign that President (Russian, Vladimir) Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks”, he assured.
Therefore, Stoltenberg has stressed the “urgent need” for Ukraine to receive the advanced and modern systems that have already been promised and that can really make a difference on the battlefield.
At the same time, he has called for increasing ammunition production and bolstering the allied defense industry to supply Ukraine and also “replenish our own stocks.”
The US assures that it will urgently give Ukraine the promised support
For his part, the German Defense Minister, Boris Pistorius, has pointed out that “the issue of anti-aircraft defense and ammunition replenishment is much more important than the discussion on fighters, because everyone knows that only flight training requires many months”.
The US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, also assured this Tuesday that Ukraine’s allies will provide it “with unity and urgency” the military support that they have promised so that it can defend itself against the Russian offensive that they expect this spring.
“With unity and urgency we will once again provide the support we have promised to Ukraine. We will put the capabilities in the hands of trained Ukrainian forces so that they can be integrated into the battlefield,” Austin said at the start of the ninth meeting of the support contact group for Ukraine.
According to the head of the Pentagon, his presence at this meeting “does nothing but demonstrate that countries of goodwill around the world continue to step up” and “ensure that any setbacks are only temporary.”
“Together, this group of content has made it clear that we will support Ukraine’s fight for freedom in the long term and help Ukraine to stand and advance during the spring counter-offensive,” he said, speaking alongside Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii. Reznikov.
Austin recalled that, together, the countries that support Ukraine have committed close to $50 billion in lethal material to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on February 24.
He reviewed that the United States, Germany and the Netherlands are collaborating to provide Ukraine with Patriot air defense systems, while France and Italy are working to provide a SAMP/T air defense system and a consortium of countries including Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands collaborate to supply Leopard tanks.
But the US Secretary of Defense has recognized that the objective “is not only to provide equipment, but also full and lasting capabilities.”
“We have responded by defending our common values of sovereignty and freedom. And we have faced this challenge with unity and determination. We have moved with urgency, the urgency of the moment, and time and time again it has mattered that we have delivered on what we promised Ukraine,” Austin concluded.
