Stoltenberg met with leaders from the Netherlands, Denmark, Poland, Latvia, Belgium and Portugal at a working dinner hosted by Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutt and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. The main topics of their meeting, held two weeks before the Alliance’s summit in Madrid, were the Alliance’s further progress against the Russian aggression in Ukraine.
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We have not done enough to support Ukrainians in defending their freedom and sovereignty.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki
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“Ukraine should receive more heavy weapons. “Her ability to defend against a brutal Russian invasion depends on it,” Stoltenberg said after the meeting. He recalled that a contact group of countries supporting Kyiv would meet in Brussels before a meeting of Alliance defense ministers on Wednesday to coordinate further supplies of weapons and military equipment.
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According to Stoltenberg, member states are ready to supply Kiev with additional weapons, including heavy weapons. Ukraine’s Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said today that the country had received only a tenth of the weapons it had requested from the West. According to the adviser to the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Mykhailo Podoljak, Ukraine needs 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks, 300 salvo rocket launchers, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones to end the war.
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“We have not done enough to support Ukrainians in defending their freedom and sovereignty,” Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki said after today’s talks with alliance colleagues. His country is one of the most active providers of weapons and other support, and the head of the Polish government has called on other states to do more for Kyiv. “Here and now, not in a few weeks or months,” Morawiecki added.
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Allied leaders today also focused on Sweden and Finland’s bid to join NATO, which is being blocked by Turkey in support of Kurdish militant organizations in both countries. Stoltenberg said diplomatic negotiations were settling to settle the dispute. According to Rutte, some Turkish demands need to be heard, even if the negotiations are to last even after the alliance summit.
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