The countries that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) pledged on Tuesday (28) to maintain military support for Ukraine, despite doubts about the position of the United States.
The widespread fear in NATO is that a decrease in military aid to Ukraine will end up forcing Kiev to establish some kind of agreement with Russia to end the conflict that broke out in February last year.
“We will reaffirm our support for Ukraine, which continues to face Russia’s war of aggression,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a meeting with foreign ministers from this military alliance.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday at NATO headquarters that he felt “no pressure” from the country’s allies to start negotiations with Russia. After a meeting with Kuleba, the head of European Union (EU) diplomacy, Josep Borrell, expressed his certainty that the allies will continue to support Ukraine “because it is an existential issue for us”.
To date, the United States has provided 40 billion dollars (around 196 billion reais at the current exchange rate) in aid for Ukrainian security, although the Republican opposition in Washington, reluctant to continue funding the former Soviet republic, has raised doubts about the continuity of this support.
On Tuesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expressed his confidence that the US will continue to provide military support to Kiev.
“I am confident that the United States will continue to provide support because it is in the security interests of the United States to do so,” he said before joining the meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Stoltenberg highlighted pledges of aid from Germany and the Netherlands of around 10 billion euros (11 billion dollars or 53.5 billion reais) as proof that the organization remains firm in its position.
“Although the front line [in Ukraine] hasn’t moved much, the Ukrainians have managed to inflict huge casualties on the Russian forces,” the secretary-general said on Monday.
Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said on Tuesday that the question of maintaining support for Ukraine is not about discussing whether that country “can still make military progress, but about saving lives”.
French Chancellor Catherine Colonna said that Ukraine is facing some of the heaviest bombardments since the beginning of the Russian invasion.
The head of Latvian diplomacy, Kristjanis Karins, said that Kiev needed more “long-range missiles to reduce Russia’s logistical capabilities”.
del-ahg/mar/fp/yr/aa/mvv *** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI team ***