The NATO leader announced on Thursday that Ukrainian forces have succeeded in breaking through Russian defenses and are making progress in their counter-offensive against Moscow’s troops.
Jens Stoltenberg said that when Russia launched its invasion, its army was seen as the second strongest in the world, but that “now the Russian army is the second strongest in Ukraine”.
“The Ukrainians are gradually gaining ground and this proves the importance of our support and also our ability and willingness to continue the support,” he told EU lawmakers.
“These are tough, difficult battles, but they managed to break through the defensive lines of the Russian forces and are advancing,” he added.
In recent days, Ukraine has claimed to have breached Russia’s heavily fortified first line of defense in its grueling southern offensive.
Ukraine received shipments of Western armor from NATO members, including main battle tanks and armored vehicles, to aid in the counter-offensive.
But Kiev admits that the months-long journey south was slower than expected and inflicted heavy casualties on its forces.
Ukrainian forces increasingly had to resort to smaller-scale foot attacks after frontal attacks were thwarted by dense minefields laid by the Russians.
“Almost never in history have we seen more mines on the battlefield than we see today in Ukraine. So it was clear that this would be extremely difficult”admitted Stoltenberg. “But the Ukrainians decided to launch the offensive because they are going to liberate their country and they are making progress. Maybe not as much as we expected, but they are gradually gaining ground, about 100 meters a day.”revealed.
“In hardly any war will we see victories only for the party we support. There will be good days and bad days. We need to be with Ukraine not only in good times, but also in bad times. We support them when they win and when they lose we will be with them’folded.
War is decisive for NATO and the EU
The Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance stressed that cooperation with the European Union (EU) is more important today than ever and that the war in Ukraine is decisive for both organizations.
“Strengthen North Atlantic Treaty Organization cooperation [NATO] and the EU has been a priority for me. I believe in this cooperation because we share values, we are two different organizations, but with a lot in common,” said Jens Stoltenberg at a hearing in the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee in Brussels.
The European Union is a political-economic organization while NATO is a political-military institution.
“There are 600 million EU citizens living in NATO countries,” added the Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, recalling that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council leader, Charles Michel, took part in the NATO summit in July, and Jens Stoltenberg himself took part in the Council meetings.
“We can be proud of how we have moved in recent years. [A nossa cooperação] it has always been important, but the war in Ukraine has made it even more important. It is the biggest war in Europe since World War II,” he said.
And since February 24, Jens Stoltenberg added, Russian President Vladimir Putin has “committed at least two strategic mistakes.”
“The first, and most important, underestimated the Ukrainians, their strength, commitment and courage, the people, the political leadership and the armed forces; the other was underestimating us, our will and commitment to support Ukraine with economic sanctions and military support. Thanks to our support, the Ukrainians were able to launch their counter-offensive,” said the head of the organization, which consists of 31 countries.
However, the Secretary General of NATO believed that it is necessary to improve “interoperability” between the armed forces of countries that are part of the EU and NATO, despite the fact that most countries in the community bloc belong to both organizations belong.
Of the 31 countries that are members of NATO, 22 are from the EU: Germany, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Croatia, Denmark, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Estonia, Finland, France, Greece, Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal and Romania.
No sign that Russia has launched an attack on Romania
The NATO leader also said there were no signs Russia had launched a deliberate strike against alliance member Romania after drone wreckage may have been found near the border with Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said Romania informed its NATO allies of the discovery on Wednesday and that it “demonstrates the risk of incidents and accidents”.
“We have no information to suggest a deliberate attack by Russia and we are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” he said.
“Regardless of that result, what we have of course seen is a lot of fighting and also airstrikes near the NATO borders,” he added.
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis called for an “urgent investigation” into the wreck on Wednesday.
Source: DN
