Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATOKenzo Tribouillard / AFP
Published 04/19/2024 13:31
The countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have decided to send more anti-aircraft defense equipment to Ukraine, at war with Russia, the secretary general of the transatlantic military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, announced this Friday (19).
“NATO has made an inventory of existing capabilities (…) and there are systems that can be made available to Ukraine. Therefore, I expect announcements of more shipments soon,” Stoltenberg said.
The senior Norwegian official made these statements at the end of a video conference meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, in which Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky participated.
In this virtual meeting, the defense ministers of the alliance countries “agreed to provide more military support, including anti-aircraft defense”, which Ukraine insistently demands to neutralize the Russian bombings that have intensified again in recent weeks.
The head of the German government, Olaf Scholz, recently called on Western countries to transfer American-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.
“I welcome Germany’s efforts, including the recent decision to deliver an additional Patriot system to Ukraine. In addition to the Patriot, there are other weapons that (NATO) allies can provide, including the SAM-T,” Stoltenberg said, in reference to surface-to-air missile systems.
He added that NATO countries that do not have “systems available have committed to providing financial support to purchase them for Ukraine.”
According to the head of the alliance, each NATO member country “will decide what it will contribute. But the ministers recognized the urgency and promised additional support in the near future.”
“What I can say is that help is on the way”, he reinforced. Zelensky said in the video conference that Ukraine “cannot wait” and that it needs “seven additional Patriot systems” or equivalent equipment, the Ukrainian Presidency said.
“It is clear that although Russia has an aerial advantage and can rely on its drones and rockets, our capabilities on the ground are unfortunately limited,” he added.
Ukraine has been desperately asking for an increase in aid in military equipment since the second half of last year and admits that it is running out of operational capacity in terms of anti-aircraft defense, after more than two years of resisting the Russian invasion, which began in February 2022 .
