Following a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on Friday 19 April, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that the Allies had agreed to step up and provide more military support, including air defence systems.
“NATO has mapped existing capabilities across the Alliance and there are systems that can be made available to Ukraine”, explained Mr Stoltenberg, adding that he expected announcements from certain Allies “soon”.
“In addition to Patriots, there are other weapons that Allies can provide, including SAMP-Ts”, he added.
Mr Stoltenberg also announced that “many” Allies who did not have the systems had pledged to provide financial support to purchase them for Ukraine. He also stressed the importance of ensuring that the systems already delivered are operational, underlining the need for spare parts, maintenance and interceptors.
Beyond anti-missile systems, the Secretary General said that several Allies had also committed to 155mm ammunition, precision strike capabilities and UAVs.
“Allies must dig deep into their inventories and speed up the delivery of missiles, artillery and munitions”, he insisted.
The Secretary General, who was leaving for the United States after the meeting, also said he hoped that the US Congress would adopt the $60 billion support programme for Ukraine when it votes on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, in a joint statement, the G7 foreign ministers expressed their resolve “in particular to bolster Ukraine’s air defence capabilities to save lives and protect critical infrastructure”. They also expressed their support for the ‘Immediate Action for Air Defence Initiative’ (IAAD) proposed by Germany (to see the declaration: https://aeur.eu/f/bvs ).
According to the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, since the beginning of the year, nearly 1,200 Russian missiles, including ballistic missiles, and more than 1,500 Shahed drones have been launched over Ukraine. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)