Western countries should send more heavy weapons to Kyiv to help fight the advancing Russian army in eastern Ukraine, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday night.
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“Yes, Ukraine should have more heavy weapons,” Stoltenberg said at a news conference in The Hague after meeting leaders of seven European countries that are members of the Atlantic Treaty Organization on the eve of a key summit.
NATO has begun to “increase” its arms supplies to Kyiv, he added, noting that Ukrainians are “absolutely dependent on (these supplies) to deal with brutal Russian aggression.”
The contact group for Ukraine meets on Wednesday in Brussels around US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to discuss a possible acceleration of these arms deliveries on the sidelines of a NATO ministerial meeting in the Belgian capital.
Ukraine continues to urge the West to supply more weapons and advanced military equipment to deal with the Russian invasion, and accuses certain European countries of dragging its feet.
On the eve of the summit, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and his Danish counterpart Mette Frederiksen received Mr Stoltenberg and several European leaders, including Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, whose country is a neighboring country to Ukraine.
“We have not done enough to defend Ukraine, to support the Ukrainian people, their freedom and their sovereignty,” Morawiecki said during the same press conference as Mr. Stoltenberg.
“That’s why I’m asking you[…]much more to do to deliver arms and artillery to Ukraine. They need it to defend their country,” he said, judging that Western countries would ruin their “credibility” if Ukraine lost to Russia.[)àenfairebeaucouppluspourlivrerdesarmesetdel’artillerieàl’UkraineIlsenontbesoinpourdéfendreleurpays»at-ilditjugeantquelespaysoccidentauxruineraientleur«crédibilité»encasdedéfaitedel’UkrainefaceàlaRussie[)àenfairebeaucouppluspourlivrerdesarmesetdel’artillerieàl’UkraineIlsenontbesoinpourdéfendreleurpays»a-t-ilditjugeantquelespaysoccidentauxruineraientleur«crédibilité»encasdedéfaitedel’UkrainefaceàlaRussie
“It would be a total failure and a catastrophe for the European Union, our values and NATO,” he said.