– We have already seen the start. We see that Putin is now sending in thousands upon thousands of soldiers and accepting very high death tolls and heavy losses, but putting pressure on the Ukrainians, says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during a press conference on Monday.
The American think tank Institute for the Study of War, which is partly financed by the American arms industry, wrote last week that Russia has taken back the initiative in Ukraine.
Stoltenberg believes that what the Russians lack in quality, they are now trying to make up for in quantity, i.e. in the number of attacks and soldiers they throw into the brutal war.
– This shows the importance of timing. It is urgent to give Ukraine more weapons. The faster we can give them more weapons, ammunition, parts, fuel, the more lives we will save, says the NATO chief.
– And the better we support the work to find a peaceful solution to this conflict.
But Putin, according to the NATO chief, is not interested in peace in Ukraine.
– We see no signs that Putin wants peace. We see that they still want to control Ukraine. The only way to secure Ukraine as a sovereign state is to continue supporting Ukraine militarily.
Will discuss combat aircraft
– I look forward to new deliveries of equipment, says Stoltenberg.
The secretary-general’s press conference comes the day before the two-day meeting of NATO’s defense ministers, which starts on Tuesday.
And Stoltenberg says that here the possible next step up in military aid to Ukraine – namely combat aircraft – will be discussed by the member states.
Western arms support to Ukraine has increased over the past year, and in January it became clear that Western countries are sending around 300 tanks to the war-torn country. Germany alone sends over a hundred, while Norway has promised to send eight.
SENT TO UKRAINE: Ukraine is now waiting for deliveries of tanks from the West. The Leopard 2 tank is among the tanks that will be sent to Ukraine. Photo: Wojtek Radwanski / AFP / NTB
But Ukraine’s president has repeatedly since then asked the West to send fighter jets.
Several experts believe that Ukraine will not be able to exploit the potential that tanks have on the battlefield, if they are not supported by combat aircraft in the air.
Russia believes that they are increasingly fighting a battle against NATO, but Stoltenberg pointed out during the press conference that a shipment of combat aircraft will not make NATO part of the conflict.
The war is emptying weapons stores
It is not only new arms shipments to Ukraine that characterize the talks before the defense alliance’s meeting on Tuesday.
Investments in own military capacities are also an important topic.
– We have already done a lot. We have deployed 40,000 NATO soldiers, says the Secretary-General, who says that they are doing so to be able to defend all territories belonging to NATO.
The meeting of defense ministers will address Ukraine’s needs now. A central theme is how to increase the production of weapons and ammunition.
– The war in Ukraine is emptying ammunition stocks in NATO countries. This puts the defense industry under strain, says Stoltenberg, who explains that today’s need is much greater than production.
– The ministers will discuss increased capacity for the defense industry and the need for ammunition.
The member countries’ financial contributions to NATO will also be discussed during the meeting this week.
