More than 50 countries gather on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss strengthening Ukraine’s air defense, two days after Russian missiles fell on Kiev and other cities. from the country.
The Brussels meeting will be the first major NATO meeting since Russia annexed four occupied Ukrainian regions, began a partial mobilization and issued veiled nuclear threats – moves the Western alliance has called a clear escalation of the war that began with the invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine by Moscow on February 24.
Airstrike sirens sounded in areas of Ukraine for a third day on Wednesday and there were reports of some bombing, but no immediate sign of a repeat of the intense attacks across the country of the previous two days.
Two days after Russian air missile strikes killed at least 26 people in Ukraine and cut off power supplies across the country, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged allies to send more air defense systems to Ukraine. Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said the “horrible and indiscriminate attacks” showed why this was so important.
“We need different types of air defense – short-range and long-range air defense systems to carry ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, different systems for different tasks,” he told reporters on arrival at Wednesday’s meeting.
Allies also need to increase the supply of air defense systems to help Ukraine defend even more cities, he said.
On Tuesday, Ukraine received the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defense systems that Germany has promised to supply, a German Defense Ministry source said.
A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Germany’s IRIS-T was another sign of a commitment to providing air defenses to Ukraine, predating Russia’s latest missile fire on the country.
“Again, this is a horrible set of circumstances, what has occurred,” the official said. “But the fact that Russia has this capability and is willing to use it, including against civilian infrastructure and civilian targets, is not surprising.”
Stoltenberg called Russia’s missile attacks a sign of weakness, showing that President Vladimir Putin was running out of alternatives as his forces were losing on the battlefield.
Moscow, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to eliminate dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers, has accused the West of escalating the conflict by supporting Kiev.
Ukraine accuses Russia of an unprovoked imperialist land grab, three decades after the dissolution of the Moscow-led Soviet Union.
NATO vigilant over Russian nuclear position
NATO defense ministers will first meet with partners from the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a body established at the initiative of the United States to maintain arms supplies to Kiev. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov also participates.
NATO ministers then begin their talks with a dinner before Thursday’s first session on nuclear planning.
Stoltenberg said the alliance has not seen any change in Russia’s nuclear posture.
“But we will remain vigilant, we will continue to monitor closely because nuclear threats, nuclear rhetoric and veiled threats from Russia are dangerous and reckless.”
NATO will hold its annual nuclear preparedness exercise, dubbed “Steadfast Noon,” next week, with training flights for fighters capable of carrying Europe-based nuclear weapons and support aircraft. No real weapons are used.
NATO ministers are also expected to discuss protecting critical infrastructure, a need that has become more urgent after the attacks on Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea, although it is still unclear who was behind the blasts.
Source: CNN Brasil
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