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NATO's Stoltenberg Says Ukrainians Out Of Ammo, Not Courage
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (file photo)
March 14, 2024
By RFE/RL
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has urged NATO member states to provide Kyiv with badly needed ammunition and military equipment as outmanned and outgunned Ukrainian troops struggle to hold off an increasingly intense Russian assault more than two years into Moscow's full-scale invasion.
Speaking on March 14 in Brussels, where he presented the alliance's annual report for 2023, Stoltenberg said that while NATO allies had the resources needed to help Ukraine, it is now a matter of political decisiveness for the 32-member bloc to stop Russian President Vladimir Putin in his tracks.
"Unprecedented aid from NATO allies has helped Ukraine to survive as a sovereign nation, but Ukraine needs even more support, and they need it now," Stoltenberg said.
"The Ukrainians are not running out of courage, they are running out of ammunition. Together, we have the capacity to provide Ukraine what it needs. Now, we need to show the political will to do so. All allies need to dig deep and deliver quickly, every day of delay has real consequences on the battlefield in Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.
Embattled Ukrainian troops have been forced to ration their dwindling stocks of artillery ammunition on the battlefield in the east, where Russian forces, emboldened by their successful assault on the industrial city of Avdiyivka earlier this year, have been pressing ahead despite what Kyiv says are staggering human losses.
As Russia's unprovoked invasion entered its third year, a critical $60 billion package of military aid from Ukraine's main backer, the United States, remains blocked in the Republican-run House of Representatives despite an overwhelmingly bipartisan approval in the Senate.
Stoltenberg warned that failing to help Ukraine at the current watershed moment would be an error with serious consequences for the West.
"This is a critical moment and it would be a great historic mistake to allow Putin to prevail. We cannot allow authoritarian leaders to get their way by using force. This would be dangerous for us all," he said.
Stoltenberg, who leaves his post at the end of September, also warned Moscow that any attempt to hold stage-managed presidential elections in occupied Ukrainian territories would run counter to international law.
"Of course, Russia's attempts to organize any part of an election in occupied regions of Ukraine are completely illegal, violating the international law," he said. Copyright © Mar 2024. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 conncwsecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036. http://www.rferl.org
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