On Thursday 22 January in Davos, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte said that the Allies’ support for Ukraine should be more equal.
“Support must be more spread, it cannot depend only on Norway, the Netherlands, Canada, Denmark, Germany and a couple of other countries”, he explained. In his view, the current situation is not sustainable, and “too many countries” are not doing enough.
While he hoped that a peace agreement would be reached soon, the Secretary General also pointed out that before such an agreement could be reached, and at a time when Russia was continuing to bomb Ukraine hard, it would be necessary to continue to support Kyiv militarily. “The United States is prepared to supply equipment paid for by the Europeans and Canada”, he said, referring to the PURL initiative. Mr Rutte stressed the need to supply Ukraine with air defence interceptors.
“All our allies have pledged to do their bit (to help Ukraine). But we can and must do more”, confirmed Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, head of NATO’s Military Committee.
For his part, the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General Alexus G. Grynkewich, felt that it was the responsibility of the Allies “to help the Ukrainians to strengthen themselves as much as possible”. “I think we will continue to do this in peacetime, even if the parameters of the peace agreement will define the modalities”, he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke in Davos on Thursday of “trilateral” talks between his country, the United States and Russia in the next few days. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)