“The Allies are committed to continuing to provide Ukraine with the military equipment it needs, including heavy weapons and long-range systems,” Stoltenberg said.
NATO Defense Ministers are meeting today and tomorrow in Brussels, with key issues on the agenda: the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the NATO defense and deterrence mechanism.
In a press conference given before the start of the Summit, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, stated that the Minister of Defense of Ukraine will be present at the Summit tonight, Olexi Reznikovwho will inform the allies about the weapons systems his country needs, while in turn the allies are expected to announce new military support to Ukraine.
“The Allies are committed to continuing to provide the military equipment that Ukraine needs“including heavy weapons and long-range systems,” Stoltenberg said.
He added that at the Madrid Summit, NATO allies are expected to agree on a comprehensive aid package for Ukraine, which will help the country to transform Soviet-era weapons systems into Western systems.
Today, the US-sponsored Ukrainian support group will meet in NATO to discuss Ukraine’s urgent need for military equipment.
Regarding the accession applications of Finland and Sweden, the Secretary General “We are actively working on the next steps in the accession process and in the meantime we are taking into account the security concerns of all the Allies,” he said.
The accession of Sweden – Finland
He welcomed the fact that Finland and Sweden were ready to respond to some of Turkey’s concerns about terrorism.
“We are working very closely with Turkey on these concerns. “We are looking for ways to find solutions as soon as possible, so that the two Scandinavian countries become members of NATO as soon as possible,” Stoltenberg said. He added that a solution may be found before the Madrid Summit, but it is still too early.
Tomorrow, the defense ministers will face the need to significantly strengthen the deterrence and defense mechanism, in the new security reality created by the Russian war in Ukraine.
