This time, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister was not just connected from Kiev. Dmytro Kuleba showed up in person at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on Thursday morning and got straight to the point. His schedule is very simple, he said: “It only says three things, namely guns, guns and guns.” For the alliance’s foreign ministers, whom Kuleba came to meet, it was no different. The question of how Ukraine can and should be helped was now at the center of deliberations. “I have asked the allies to continue to provide support in the form of many different weapons systems,” said Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg. It’s about “light and heavy weapons”.
Thomas Gutschker
Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and Benelux countries based in Brussels.
That alone marks a turning point. Just think of the meeting of heads of state and government two weeks ago in the same place. “There is a red line, which is not to become part of the war,” French President Emmanuel Macron said at the time. NATO has therefore decided to continue to deliver “defensive weapons” to Ukraine, but no one is thinking of sending tanks and fighter planes. Even Boris Johnson dismissed this, although the British prime minister referred only to “logistical difficulties”.