NATO member countries reaffirmed, on Thursday 13 October, their willingness to continue their military support to Ukraine.
“NATO is not a party to the conflict, but we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes”, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after the defence ministers’ meeting. The day before, their Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov, gave an update on the situation on the battlefield.
“Our task is to ensure that the Ukrainian army can conduct meaningful operations during the winter”, the Secretary General explained.
While thanking the “significant contributions” of the Allies, especially with the latest air defence announcements, notably from Germany, the United States and Spain, Mr Stoltenberg urged them to continue to mobilise. He recalled that the Allies were providing advanced systems, including artillery, air defence systems and armoured vehicles, fuel, winter clothing, tents and medical supplies.
“NATO will shortly deliver counter-drone equipment to Ukraine, with hundreds of drone jammers, which can help render ineffective Russian and Iranian-made drones”, Mr Stoltenberg said.
The Secretary General also warned Russia against using nuclear weapons. “Any use of nuclear weapons would fundamentally change the nature of the conflict, and have severe consequences”, he warned, stressing that Russia knew that a nuclear war could not be won and should never be fought. Mr Stoltenberg explained that even the use of a small nuclear weapon would be serious. He said that NATO was taking the threats very seriously. “We remain vigilant and will not be intimidated”, he added.
Earlier in the day, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, had been more threatening. “Any nuclear attack on Ukraine will result in a response, not a nuclear response, but a response so powerful on the military side that the Russian army will be annihilated (and) Putin cannot afford bluffing”, he said in a speech in Bruges.
And while NATO will hold a regular military deterrence exercise over Belgium next week, Russia is expected to hold its annual exercise in the coming weeks. Asked about the exercise, Mr Stoltenberg explained that NATO had very good intelligence and had been monitoring Russian nuclear forces for decades.
Allies also reviewed progress in strengthening Alliance deterrence and defence and agreed to increase their stocks of ammunition and equipment to accelerate delivery of capabilities and to use the NATO Defence Planning process to provide industry with the long-term demand it needs to boost production. “NATO agencies can also support Allies to facilitate procurement, and organise warehousing for equipment”, Mr Stoltenberg said.
The Allies also discussed strengthening the protection of critical infrastructure following the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. The Secretary General announced that the Allies had agreed to improve the resilience of critical undersea and energy infrastructure, including cyber security. “Senior resilience experts from all Allies will meet at NATO for the first time this year, and address this in detail”, he said.
Cooperation between NATO and the EU was also discussed, particularly in relation to the missions in the Western Balkans. “In a more unpredictable world, it is important to strengthen and deepen NATO-EU cooperation”, Mr Stoltenberg said, looking forward to signing a new joint declaration with the EU presidents. This has been expected for several months.
In addition, in the margins of the EU Council, the defence ministers of 14 NATO countries (Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Slovenia, Romania and the United Kingdom) signed a letter of intent on the launch of a European missile defence shield project called ‘European Sky Shield’.
Led by Germany, the initiative aims to create a European air and missile defence system through the joint procurement of air and missile defence equipment by European countries, NATO said in a statement. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)