NATO allies intend to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine despite the new political position of Hungary, Slovakia and the Netherlands, said Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.
In a conversation with a journalist from the Ukrainian television channel ICTV, who asked whether it could be considered that assistance to Kiev was fading, Stoltenberg recalled that Alliance members provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) with “advanced missiles, air defense systems, modern battle tanks.”
“Assistance to Ukraine is provided because it is in our security interests. I am confident that NATO allies will continue to provide substantial and significant support to Ukraine,” – he emphasized.
As an example of the determination of the bloc member countries to continue pumping Kyiv with weapons, Stoltenberg cited the readiness of Germany and the Netherlands to provide $10 billion in payments. In addition, he added, NATO allies will provide additional air defense systems, and Romania has already created a training center for Ukrainian Armed Forces pilots.
The Secretary General admitted that there is now an “urgent need for large volumes of assistance” to Ukraine, but the allies are demonstrating a desire “not only in words, but also in deeds” to continue helping Kyiv.
Let us note that the Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized that any cargo with weapons supplied by Western countries to Ukraine will be a legitimate target for the Russian Aerospace Forces. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that arms supplies would not stop, but would prolong the conflict in Ukraine, and called the position of Western countries “harmful” and “counterproductive.”
