Secretary General calls for more help for Ukraine

Means to speed up the delivery of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine. This was the main theme of the meeting of the NATO member countries held on Tuesday in Brussels. The delicate question of the supply of combat aircraft that kyiv claims to be able to resist Moscow was also discussed.

Via its president, Volodimir Zelensky, who visited London, Paris and Brussels last week, Ukraine calls for fighter jets and long-range missiles.

“The priority, the urgency, is to provide the Ukrainians with the weapons that they have been promised so that they maintain their ability to defend themselves,” Jens Stoltenberg, secretary general of the transatlantic organization, insisted before a meeting of the “Ramstein group”.

All decisions on arms supplies to Ukraine are made in this US-chaired forum, which is attended by about 50 countries. Most of their meetings are held at the US Ramstein base in Germany.

Allied countries have pledged to provide Ukraine with artillery, armored vehicles and tanks, air defense systems and “other commitments will be made,” Stoltenberg said.

As for fighter jets, the organization’s Secretary General stated that it was not “the most urgent issue”, before adding that it was still being discussed. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, who was also at the meeting in Brussels, stressed in a message on his Twitter account the need to guarantee sufficient ammunition reserves and equipment maintenance, protect the Ukrainian skies and reinforce the “coalition of tanks”.

“This is a war of attrition and a logistical battle,” Stoltenberg insisted. Russian President “Vladimir Putin is not preparing for peace. He is preparing for a new offensive, for new attacks. Therefore, we must continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs to win,” he explained.

Ammunition utilization rate is higher than production rate

But the fear of being involved in the conflict holds back many allies. “We must give priority to useful deliveries to allow the Ukrainians to resist and carry out operations instead of commitments that will come very late,” French President Emmanuel Macron insisted after his meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart. .

The ammunition for the weapons supplied to the Ukrainians has become the priority and the problem of the allies.

“Ukraine’s current rate of ammunition use is much higher than our current rate of production,” Stoltenberg warned. “This is depleting our inventories and putting pressure on our defense industries,” he added, calling for increased production rates on the one hand and investments in production capacity on the other.

At the summit of EU Heads of State and Government held in Brussels on Thursday, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas had suggested that the bloc’s member countries use a mechanism similar to that used for the purchase of vaccines in order to push the defense industry to produce more.

“The Member States pay, the Commission makes the purchase and the aid goes directly to Ukraine,” he argued. “This could help speed up the process.”

Russia continues to bomb southern and eastern Ukraine

Meanwhile, the city of Bakhmut, one of the main targets of Vladimir Putin’s troops, is in a precarious situation, according to statements by the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, on Ukrainian television.

“There is not a single square meter in Bakhmut that is safe or not within range of enemy fire or drones,” he said. Russian artillery, Pavlo Kirilenko added, is shelling targets along the entire front line in the region.

As the first anniversary of the outbreak of the Russian war approaches, on February 24, 2022, Moscow is ramping up its operations in southern and eastern Ukraine, while Kiev says it expects a full-scale assault.

Stoltenberg said on Monday that the offensive had already begun, given the number of shelling and ground attacks in recent days. “The situation is difficult in general, but it is under control,” Pavlo Kirilenko said. “The enemy has not achieved any tactical or strategic success.”

The offensive against Bakhmut is led by mercenaries from the Russian paramilitary group Wagner. According to British intelligence services, in the last three days they have made some progress on the northern outskirts of the city, while their progress to the south appears more difficult.

Bakhmut, the scene of fierce battle for months, has been largely destroyed and its pre-war population of some 70,000 have almost all fled. According to Pavlo Kirilenko, some 5,000 civilians remain, where the Army has established fortified positions to prepare for street battles.

The authorities are still hoping to reduce the number of civilians present and evacuate the wounded.

With AFP, Reuters