NATO Secretary General Warns of Russia's Military Build-Up in Ukraine

Monday, 12/04/2023 06:05 IWST

Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Ukraine’s military has failed to achieve significant breakthroughs on the battlefield over the past months. This has attracted the attention of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg warned that Moscow had been stockpiling missiles ahead of winter, and noted that Russian arms manufacturers were operating “on a war footing.”

In an interview with TV channel The first Germany’s Stoltenberg acknowledged that the front line in Ukraine has remained largely unchanged of late, adding that “war is difficult to plan.”

“We must prepare for bad news. The war is happening in stages, but we must support Ukraine in good times and bad,” he was quoted as saying Russia TodaySunday (3/12/2023).

According to Stoltenberg, increasing weapons production is very important at this time.

When asked what Kyiv should do while its supporters increase weapons production capacity – something that will certainly take time – Stoltenberg said he would leave these “difficult operational decisions” to Ukraine’s military leaders and commanders.

“I think one of the problems we have to overcome is the fragmentation of the European defense industry. We are not able to work together as closely as we should,” he said.

He also called on all member countries to “overcome narrow national interests” and increase supply rather than indulge in price increases.

Earlier, speaking after a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, Stoltenberg warned that “Russia has stockpiled large amounts of missiles ahead of winter, and we are seeing new attempts to attack Ukraine’s power grid and energy infrastructure.”

Two days earlier, he said that “we should not underestimate Russia.” According to him, Moscow has put “its defense industry on a war footing,” making it “difficult to achieve the territorial gains we hoped for.”

Despite this, he did not call the current situation a “deadlock” – a description used by the commander of Ukraine’s armed forces, General Valery Zaluzhny, in early November.

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