Stoltenberg: NATO to keep supporting Ukraine including aid to recover infrastructure damaged by Russia

NATO will keep supporting Ukraine, including aid with recovering the country’s gas and energy infrastructure damaged by Russia, as well as new air defence supplies, Jens Stoltenberg, Alliance’s Secretary General, said during a meeting with Foreign Ministers of NATO member states held in Bucharest, as per Novaya-Europe’s newsperson.

“What we have seen is that Vladimir Putin is failing in Ukraine; he is responding with more brutality, attacking gas infrastructure and power lines and trying to deprive the Ukrainians of water, electricity, light, and heating. Therefore, we need to support Ukraine because what we see is that

Putin is trying to use winter as a weapon of war,

which is inflicting a lot of suffering on the Ukrainian people,” Stoltenberg said. “NATO allies are providing unprecedented support to Ukraine, and they will continue to provide unprecedented support to Ukraine, including by helping them to rebuild their gas and power infrastructure, and of course [NATO will] also continue to deliver air defence systems.”

Foreign Ministers of NATO member states will hold a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, Stoltenberg added.

In an interview with POLITICO late Monday, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said it would not be possible to win on the battlefield in the longer term without investing in making more weapons and that NATO countries urgently need to boost weapons production for Ukraine.

“While we are fighting the battles of today, we have to think how we will be fighting the battles of tomorrow,” Kuleba said.

Stoltenberg also stressed out that today’s NATO meeting would make it possible to use all the support Ukraine needs in a timely manner to respond to the country’s current challenges. He also noted several times that the Alliance does not participate in this war, but will protect every inch of land of NATO member countries in the event of an attack on any of them. Speaking about a potential NATO membership for Ukraine, he noted that

“Ukraine will become a member, but now [the Alliance] is focusing on [its] support.”

Stoltenberg also made a point that Russia’s war in Ukraine only contributes to the expansion of NATO. Thus, the result will be the opposite of the goals stated by Putin, Secretary General said. The Alliance plans to increase its presence throughout Eastern Europe from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea, the US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated. He described the region as one “of strategic importance” to NATO.

A meeting of Foreign Ministers of NATO member states is being held in Romania’s Parliament in Bucharest on 29 and 30 November.