NATO will continue its “critical” and unprecedented support for Ukraine, says alliance chief
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a joint press conference in The Hague, the Netherlands, on November 14. (Photo: Piroschka Van de Wouw/Archyde.com)
NATO’s unprecedented and “critical” support in Ukraine continues, the alliance chief said on Tuesday.
“Our relationship is a very close partnership, it is a relationship where NATO allies have shown their willingness to support Ukraine in an unprecedented way,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
“When the invasion happened, NATO was not taken by surprise. Actually, we have been preparing, we have been ready to deal with situations like this since we started the great adaptation of NATO in 2014,” Stoltenberg told reporters. in Bucharest, Romania.
Stoltenberg reiterated that the war started in 2014, referring to Moscow’s annexation of Crimea, with Canadian, British and US NATO troops helping train Ukrainian forces that year.
“The war did not start in February of this year, the war started in the spring of 2014. And since then, NATO has implemented the biggest reinforcement, the biggest adaptation of our alliance since the end of the Cold War, with more presence in the eastern part of our alliance”.
“So the reality was that when the invasion took place in February of this year — compared to 2014 — Ukrainian troops and armed forces were much better trained, much larger, much better equipped and much better led,” Stoltenberg said. . “That’s one of the main reasons they were able to fight back.”
Of course, the gains and the victories that the Ukrainians have achieved, that belongs to the bravery, the courage of the Ukrainian troops and armed forces,” Stoltenberg added. “But it has been fundamental that they have received the support of the partners of the NATO, and we will continue to do so.”
“The main objective now is to support Ukraine, to ensure that President Putin does not win, but rather that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign and independent nation in Europe.”
“It’s a mix of, in part, more presence in the east, we’ve already doubled the number of groups, but we’re also working on how to scale those battle groups from battalions to brigade size levels quickly.”
“So the combination of more presence, assigned troops, more preparation, pre-positioned equipment, all of this will strengthen our ability to react and act.
“The goal of all of this is every day, 24 hours a day, to provide credible deterrence and defense. And in doing so, we’re not provoking conflict, we’re preserving the peace, preventing conflict.”
Stoltenberg added that the alliance is working to develop the agreement reached at the NATO summit held in Madrid earlier this year.