At a time when Russia appears to be regaining ground in Ukraine, the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe, Christopher Cavoli, said, on Thursday 16 May, that Russia did not have the means to make a major breakthrough in Ukraine.
“The Russians don’t have the numbers necessary to do a strategic breakthrough (...), more to the point, they don’t have the skill and the capability to do it”, he explained at the end of the 191st session of the NATO Military Committee in Chiefs of Defence.
For the Chair of NATO’s Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, the situation on the ground remains difficult and delays in the delivery of military equipment to Ukraine have had consequences on the battlefield. But “the situation has not changed to the point where Ukraine is ready to sit down and start negotiating” with Russia.
“Ukraine has shown the world that it is capable of unprecedented success on the battlefield. There’s nothing it can’t do. All it needs... is our help”, he said. And he added: “We will do everything in our power to ensure that this aid reaches them as quickly as possible. At the same time, we are actively working to maximise interoperability between the allied and Ukrainian armed forces”.
Admiral Bauer said he could not give any details, but explained that there was “a lot going on at the moment”. According to him, Ukraine will see an improvement in arms deliveries.
Defence and deterrence
Looking beyond the situation in Ukraine, the Chiefs of Defence discussed the deterrence and defence of Alliance members, in particular ways of making the defence plans approved at the Vilnius Summit in 2023 fully executable.
According to Admiral Bauer, this means more troops in a higher state of readiness, reinforcement and development of capabilities, adaptation of NATO’s command and control structures, creation and maintenance of more capabilities (logistics, host country support, maintenance, military mobility, resupply and pre-positioning of stocks), and finally, more collective defence and training exercises. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)