NATO leader: Ukraine is out of ammunition, not out of courage
(Baonghean.vn) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that Ukraine is running out of ammunition and needs more support from its allies. He also affirmed that the military alliance has strong public support.
In his annual report on March 14, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called on members of the military alliance to increase support for Ukraine. He stressed: “The Ukrainians are not running out of courage, they are running out of ammunition.”
The statement was made a day after European Union (EU) member states agreed to provide Ukraine with an additional 5 billion euros ($5.5 billion) in military aid.
Also on March 14, the German Parliament voted against the opposition's proposal to allow the sending of Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine.
In the US, aid plans for Ukraine have also been stalled in Congress for months, and a temporary $300 million package was announced by the country's executive branch earlier this week.
According to sources, Mr. Stoltenberg also called on NATO members to maintain the “political will” to provide Kiev with enough weapons to counter Russia.
NATO countries provide the bulk of military aid to Ukraine, which has helped Ukraine “survive as an independent, sovereign state,” Mr. Stoltenberg said.
“But Ukrainians need more support – and they need it now,” he added.
Any attempt by Moscow to hold Russian elections in occupied Ukraine would be "completely illegal", he said.
For its part, Russia has announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine – Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south – by September 2022. Russia also took control of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Mr Stoltenberg also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “failed” to spread NATO deterrence, pointing to the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance. Sweden joined last week after centuries of military non-alignment, and Finland joined last year, shortly after the Ukraine conflict erupted.
“The world has become more dangerous, but NATO has become stronger,” Mr. Stoltenberg asserted, adding that “public support for NATO is extremely strong on both sides of the Atlantic.”
Mr Stoltenberg said 2023 was “the ninth consecutive year of increased defence investment across Europe and Canada”. He added that defence spending had increased by 11% – an “unprecedented” level.
NATO countries will invest $470 billion in defense by 2024, equivalent to 2% of their combined GDP, he said, adding that two-thirds of member states will meet the alliance's target of spending at least 2% of GDP on defense.
