NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced, on Thursday 27 April, that the Allies and NATO partners in the Contact Group had provided Ukraine with “1,550 armoured vehicles and 230 tanks”, including “vast amounts of ammunition”.
“We have delivered modern air defence systems, advanced digital systems, (...) HIMARS, and now we have also delivered a big number of armoured vehicles, including battle tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and other types of combat vehicles”, added the NATO secretary general at a press conference.
According to him, since the beginning of the invasion in February 2022, “more than 98% of the combat vehicles promised to Ukraine have already been delivered”.
“In total, we have trained and equipped more than nine new Ukrainian armoured brigades. This will put Ukraine in a strong position to continue to retake occupied territory”, Mr Stoltenberg said.
He called for staying the course and continuing to provide Ukraine with what it needs to prevail. Mr Stoltenberg said that Russia should “never be underestimated”, because “what Russia lacks in quality, it tries to make up for in quantity”. “We have seen around Bakhmut how it is ready to send thousands and thousands of soldiers with very high casualty rates”, he added.
On the same day, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the delivery of F16 fighter planes. “Types of weapons that, we were told, would ‘provoke Russia to escalate’ if supplied to Ukraine but never did: Artillery, MLRS, air defence, tanks, long-range missiles”, he detailed in a tweet. “F-16s will not either. Giving Ukraine F-16s will deter Russia rather than ‘provoke’ it. Time to take this step”, he urged. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)