2023-07-11 10:56:00
Among other things, the Ukraine is to receive a further 40 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, 25 Leopard 1A5 battle tanks and five armored recovery vehicles, as well as two launchers for the Bundeswehr’s Patriot anti-aircraft missiles. There are also 20,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and 5,000 rounds of smoke ammunition, as well as reconnaissance drones and anti-drone defenses.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz landed in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Tuesday morning and is expected to officially announce the package at the start of the NATO summit. The German federal government has already officially approved armaments deliveries to Ukraine worth well over three billion euros. There are also deliveries that do not have to be approved.
The German government recently pledged a large weapons package worth 2.7 billion euros to Ukraine on the occasion of the visit to Germany by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in May.
In addition to Selenskyj, Scholz, US President Joe Biden and the other heads of state and government of the 31 NATO countries are expected at the meeting in Vilnius. The Ukrainian head of state is to discuss even closer cooperation with the defense alliance.
Stoltenberg demands a clear signal to Ukraine
According to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, Ukraine should receive a clear signal for admission to the alliance. However, according to the Lithuanian ambassador to NATO, Ukraine will not receive an invitation to join NATO. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirmed his attendance at the summit.
There will be no invitation, Deividas Matulionis said on Lithuanian radio on Tuesday. “But a much clearer process will be put in place as to how that invitation might come regarding if the conditions are right.”
“Ukraine has come a long way,” Stoltenberg said on Tuesday before the start of the NATO summit in Vilnius. For this reason, the alliance should refrain from using the usual Membership Action Plan (MAP) to introduce accession candidates in the case of Ukraine. “Ukraine is much closer to NATO, so this should also be reflected in NATO’s decisions,” Stoltenberg emphasized.
Stoltenberg sees the ongoing expansion of the defense alliance as a sign that the policies of Russian President Vladimir Putin are failing. “He went to war because he wanted less NATO. He gets more NATO,” said the Norwegian. The fact that Finland is already a member and Sweden is now becoming a member shows that Putin’s war of aggression once morest Ukraine was a “major strategic mistake”. He underestimated both the Ukrainians and the unity of NATO as well as the political consequences in countries like Sweden and Finland.
France supplies long-range missiles
France will deliver long-range missiles to Ukraine. This would enable the country to better defend itself once morest the Russian attack, President Emmanuel Macron justified the decision. “I have decided to increase shipments of weapons and equipment to give Ukrainians the ability to conduct deep attacks while adhering to our doctrine, which allows Ukraine to defend its territory,” Macron said upon arrival at the NATO summit in Lithuania. Macron does not provide details on the number or type of missiles. In May, Britain became the first country to confirm delivery of long-range Storm Shadow missiles.
Russia, meanwhile, sees France’s announced delivery of long-range missiles to Ukraine as a mistake. This will have consequences for Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow. Russia will take countermeasures. In addition, it must be clarified what range the missiles will have.
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