Putin made ‘a big mistake’ in underestimating Ukraine and NATO, alliance chief tells CNN

North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated both Ukraine’s resilience and the unity of the NATO military alliance.

“He [Putin] made a big mistake; he totally underestimated the strength of the Ukrainian military, the courage of the Ukrainian leadership and the Ukrainian people, and he also underestimated the unity of NATO and partners in supporting Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told CNN’s international anchor Christiane Amanpour on Thursday. fair (30).

Speaking from the NATO summit in Madrid, Stoltenberg said Putin had failed to achieve his goals when it came to weakening the NATO alliance.

“One of his main messages at the beginning of this war was that he wanted NATO less. In fact, he proposed signing an agreement to no longer expand NATO. What he’s getting now is more NATO and two new NATO members, including Finland bordering… with Russia, doubling the NATO border with Russia,” he told Amanpour.

“That doesn’t mean we don’t see the gravity of the difficulties Ukraine is facing in Donbas,” Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg told CNN he was ignoring Putin’s rhetoric and would “evaluate his actions”.

“What he does in Ukraine is a brutal violation of international law. It’s a war that has led to a lot of civilian casualties, civilian deaths and heavy losses,” he told CNN.

The achievements of the NATO summit in Madrid are a “victory” for the military alliance, according to Stoltenberg.

“It is a victory for NATO that we have once again demonstrated our unity and ability to change, to adapt when the world is changing,” said the NATO chief.

“We live in a world where we see the brutal use of force against a close neighbor of NATO, a close partner of NATO in Ukraine, which is why we have significantly stepped up and will further intensify our presence in the eastern part of the alliance to remove any space for miscalculations or misunderstandings in Moscow about our readiness to protect and defend all allies,” he said.

“This is deterrence, and the purpose of deterrence is to avoid conflict. And that is exactly what NATO has been doing for over 70 years – preventing conflict and preserving peace,” she added.