Russian invasion
NATO Secretary General dampens Ukrainians’ hopes in Kiev
Volodymyr Selenskyj (r.) welcomes Jens Stoltenberg in Kiev. photo
© —/Ukrainian Presidential Press Office/AP/dpa
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg traveled to Ukraine for the third time since the start of the war. He doesn’t have any big gifts in his luggage. Instead, there is criticism of alliance states.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his hopes during a visit to Kiev Ukraine’s expectation of an early invitation to join the Western defense alliance has been dampened. He is firmly convinced that Ukraine has a place in NATO and he is working hard to ensure that Ukraine becomes a member of the alliance, the Norwegian said on Monday at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. However, in order to make a decision on admission, a consensus is needed among the 32 alliance members. And he doesn’t expect this to happen until the next summit of heads of state and government in July.
In Kiev, Stoltenberg once again appealed to all allies to further expand their military support for Ukraine. “The NATO partners have not delivered what they promised,” he criticized. The lack of ammunition enabled the Russians to make advances at the front. According to him, the attacker also benefits from a Ukrainian lack of air defense systems and long-range missiles.
Lives cannot be brought back
Stoltenberg said Monday that he expects new announcements from allies soon. “Arsenals can be replenished, lives lost cannot be recovered,” he said. In the current situation, in case of doubt, it is better to help Ukraine than to fulfill alliance goals for the supply of weapons and ammunition.
After Germany, Spain, the USA and Great Britain recently announced the delivery of additional air defense capacities. However, Ukrainian hopes have not yet been fulfilled, especially in the area of powerful Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems.
Zelenskyj calls for more speed
Zelensky confirmed that the first promised arms deliveries from the USA had already arrived. “But the process needs to be accelerated,” he said. There are no concrete commitments regarding the additional Patriot systems expected from Ukraine. However, there are first steps.
With regard to possible NATO accession, Stoltenberg expressed the hope that Ukraine could be shown at the summit that they wanted to bring them further into the alliance. Among other things, it is about ensuring that the country’s armed forces fully meet NATO standards.
Reminder of the 2008 summit decision
With the words “Ukraine will become a member of NATO,” Stoltenberg also referred to a NATO decision from 2008. At that time, the heads of state and government agreed with regard to Ukraine and Georgia “that these countries will become members of NATO.” .
However, there is currently no schedule for the recording, nor is there an official invitation. According to a summit declaration from last year, NATO will only be able to do the latter “if the allies agree and the conditions are met.” At the time, “additional necessary reforms in the areas of democracy and the security sector” were cited as concrete examples.
Visit kept secret for security reasons
The federal government is also putting the brakes on Ukraine’s desire for a formal invitation to join NATO. Last year, Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock made it clear several times that, in their view, the Russian war of aggression must first end. The problem for Ukraine, however, is that this could be an argument for Moscow against starting negotiations. One of Russia’s declared war aims is to prevent its neighboring country from joining NATO.
Stoltenberg’s visit to Ukraine was the third visit since the Russian war of aggression began in February 2022. Like the previous ones, the visit was not announced in advance for security reasons.