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| NATO Promises More Heavy Weapons For Ukraine |
International Military - Ukraine should get more NATO heavy weapons. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg revealed this on Tuesday (14/6/2022). The remarks came ahead of a US-led “contact group” meeting to discuss the logistics of the venture.
NATO is trying to adapt to the "constantly changing" demands of Kiev, according to the US envoy to the alliance. "Ukraine must have more heavy weapons and NATO allies and partners have provided heavy weapons and they have also increased," Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday in The Hague, as he meets leaders of seven member states ahead of a NATO summit. scheduled for late June.
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"In terms of weapons, we are united here that it is very important for Russia to lose the war," said Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who hosted the meeting. "And since we can't have direct confrontation between NATO and Russian forces, what we need to do is make sure Ukraine can fight that war, that it has access to all the weaponry it needs," he said.
Romanian President Klaus Johannis, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa and Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins also attended the meeting in the Netherlands.
Stoltenberg previously visited Sweden and Finland, which have signed up to join NATO but are unlikely to be formally invited to the June 29-30 summit in Madrid, due to Turkey's objections.
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Meanwhile, US Permanent Representative to NATO Julianne Smith reportedly said NATO countries are trying to adapt to Kiev's demands for additional weapons, which are constantly changing. According to the Pentagon, initial efforts to supply Ukraine were focused on anti-tank and anti-aircraft portable missiles, but have now shifted to tanks and heavy artillery due to the nature of the current battle in Donbass.
Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Kiev was in dire need of 1,000 howitzers, 300 multi-launch rocket systems, 500 tanks, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones. While the US promised only four HIMARS rocket launchers, the Pentagon's chief policy officer, Colin Kahl, on Tuesday said Ukraine would be supplied with heavy guided missiles, with a range of 70 kilometers.
Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has arrived in Brussels, where he will chair a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group to discuss how best to supply Kiev. According to an unnamed US official quoted in a Pentagon news release, "Ukraines know best what they are dealing with, and we are actively seeking their information on battlefield conditions." "In general, we consider their assessment to be reliable and valid," the official said.
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Russia attacked the neighboring country in late February, following Ukraine's failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreement, which it first signed in 2014, and Moscow's eventual recognition of the Donbass republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The Minsk Protocol brokered by Germany and France was designed to give breakaway regions special status within the Ukrainian state.
The Kremlin has since demanded that Ukraine formally declare itself a neutral nation that will never join the US-led NATO military bloc. Kiev insists Russia's attack is completely unwarranted and denies claims it plans to retake the two republics by force.
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