He famous Thursday’s announcement by Denmark and the Netherlands that they plan to supply Ukraine with no less than one other 14 refurbished Leopard 2 battle tanks from early 2024.
He added that he anticipated nations to “make new bulletins of concrete navy assist to Ukraine” at a gathering in Germany on Friday.
The preventing in current months has change into a conflict of attrition, with neither aspect capable of achieve momentum. However Ukraine is predicted to launch a counteroffensive in coming weeks, and it has lately obtained refined weapons from its Western allies.
NATO has no official presence in Ukraine and offers solely offers nonlethal assist to Kyiv, however Stoltenberg has been the sturdy voice of the alliance all through the conflict.
A procession of worldwide leaders has made the journey to Kyiv over the past 12 months, and the previous Norwegian prime minister is among the final main Western figures to take action.
NATO, fashioned to counter the Soviet Union, has lengthy feared being dragged into a large conflict with nuclear-armed Russia, however because the West has moved from hesitantly offering helmets and uniforms to tanks, warplanes and superior missile techniques, high-level visits have change into routine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated on Thursday that stopping Ukraine from becoming a member of NATO stays one of many targets of what Moscow calls its “particular navy operation” within the nation.
Talking in a convention name with reporters, Peskov stated that Ukraine’s accession would pose a “severe, important menace to our nation, to our nation’s safety”.
Earlier this month, Finland joined the alliance, setting apart many years of neutrality in a historic realignment of Europe’s post-Chilly Battle safety panorama.
Whereas NATO says it poses no menace to Russia, the Nordic nation’s accession dealt a serious political blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Finland’s membership doubles Russia’s border with the world’s greatest safety alliance.
Neighbouring Sweden is predicted to affix in coming months, too, probably by the point President Joe Biden and his NATO counterparts meet within the Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.
The alliance has targeted on bolstering defences by itself territory to dissuade Putin from attacking any member nation.
Underneath NATO’s collective safety assure, an assault on one member nation is taken into account to be an assault on all of them.
On Friday, Stoltenberg will attend a Ukraine defence contact group assembly at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, with Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin.