NATO yesterday branded Russia as the biggest “direct threat” to Western security following its invasion of Ukraine and agreed on plans to modernize Kiev’s beleagured armed forces, saying it fully endorsed Ukrainians’ “heroic defense of their country ”.
At a summit dominated by the invasion and the geopolitical upheaval it caused, NATO also invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance and a seven-fold increase from 2023 in high-alert combat forces along its eastern flank. against any future Russian attack.
US President Joe Biden has announced more land, sea and air force deployments across Europe, from Spain in the west to Romania and Poland bordering Ukraine. It included a permanent army headquarters with accompanying battalion in Poland – the first full-time U.S. deployment at NATO’s eastern edges.
“President (Vladimir) Putin’s war on Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and created the biggest security crisis in Europe since World War II,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference.
“NATO has responded with force and unity,” he said.
As the 30 national NATO leaders met in Madrid, Russian forces intensified attacks in Ukraine, including missile strikes and shelling in the southern Mykolaiv region near the front lines and the Black Sea.
The mayor of Mykolaiv city said a Russian missile killed at least five people in a residential building there, while Moscow said its forces had hit a training base for foreign mercenaries in the region.
The governor of the eastern Luhansk province reportedly “fighting everywhere” in a battle around the hill town of Lysychansk, which is trying to encircle Russian forces as they gradually advance in a campaign to capture Ukraine’s entire industrialized eastern Donbas region on behalf of separatist proxies conquer.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated to NATO leaders that Kiev needed more weapons and money, and faster, to erode Russia’s huge lead in artillery and missile firepower, and warned that the Kremlin’s ambitions did not end with Ukraine.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba praised NATO’s “bright eyes” on Russia, saying the outcome of the summit proved “it can make difficult but necessary decisions”.
He added: “An equally strong and active position over Ukraine will help protect Euro-Atlantic security and stability.”
Kiev has expressed concern that the West was slow to offer more than moral support against an invasion that devastated cities, killed thousands and displaced millions.
Russia says it is carrying out a “special military operation” in Ukraine to get rid of dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of an unprovoked, imperial-style land grab.
A NATO communication called Russia the “most important and most immediate threat to the security of the Allies”, a nod to the rapid deterioration in relations with Russia – formerly classified as a “strategic partner” – since the invasion.
NATO has issued a new Strategic Draft document, the first since 2010, which states that a “strong independent Ukraine is essential for the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area”.
To that end, NATO has agreed to a long-term financial and military aid package to modernize Ukraine’s largely Soviet-era army.
“We stand in full solidarity with the government and the people of Ukraine in the heroic defense of their country,” the communication said.
The US-led alliance said it would also deploy more “robust, combat-ready forces” on its eastern flank, scaled up from existing combat groups to brigade-sized units.
Mr Stoltenberg said NATO had agreed to place 300,000 troops on high alert from 2023, at 40,000 now, under a new power model to protect an area stretching from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
But last night, officials were forced to admit that the project was a work in progress as they tried to gather enough firepower to make it a reality.
Mr Stoltenberg acknowledged that his plan required allies to “contribute the forces they promised to contribute” and he was “confident” that this could be done.
Mr Zelensky said in a video link to the summit that Ukraine needs $ 5 billion a month for its defense and protection. “This is not a war being waged by Russia.
only against Ukraine. “This is a war for the right to dictate conditions in Europe – for what the future world order will be like,” he said.
NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance is one of the most important shifts in European security in decades, as Helsinki and Stockholm abandon a tradition of neutrality in response to Russia’s invasion.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said NATO expansion was “destabilizing” and would not improve its members’ security.
Russia’s intensified attacks in Ukraine, after a missile attack on Monday killed at least 18 people in a shopping center in a central city far from the front lines, come as Russian forces make slow but relentless progress.