Stoltenberg: Ukraine needs more heavy weapons

Western nations should send more heavy weapons to Kyiv to help fight the Russian-led army in eastern Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, said last night.

“Yes, Ukraine needs more heavy weapons,” the Norwegian said during a news conference in The Hague after talks with the leaders of seven European countries, members of NATO, on the eve of a key summit.

NATO has begun to “intensify” arms deliveries to the Ukrainian army, he added, stressing that Kyiv “is completely dependent (on these supplies) to counter Russia’s barbaric attack.”

The Contact Group for Ukraine is meeting today in Brussels, with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in a leading role, to discuss the possible acceleration of arms deliveries, on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in the Belgian capital.

Kyiv has repeatedly called on the West to provide it with more weapons and advanced equipment to counter the Russian invasion, and has accused some European capitals of dragging their feet.

On the eve of the summit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Danish counterpart Mete Frederiksen, Stoltenberg and other European leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Matthias Morawiecki,’s neighbor’s neighbor.

“We have not done enough to defend Ukraine, to support the Ukrainian people, their freedom and their national sovereignty,” Morawiecki told a news conference.

“That is why I urge you (…) to do a lot more to deliver weapons and artillery to Ukraine. It needs them to defend itself,” he said, adding that Western countries would lose their “credibility” in the event of a military defeat. of Ukraine.

“This would be a complete failure and disaster for the European Union, for our values, and for NATO,” said the conservative Polish prime minister.

SOURCE: AMPE