The Atlantic Alliance will host the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council on Wednesday. A meeting attended by the foreign ministers of NATO and Ukraine, for a “conversation between equals”.
Minister Dimytro Kuleba is the representative of Kiev. At the entrance to the meeting, he welcomed the “political will” to help Kiev defend itself against Russian aggression, but pointed to shortcomings in Western industry that, in his view, are hampering the defense capabilities of not only Ukraine, but the entire European Union to limit. space, Atlantic Ocean.
Dimytro Kuleba states that he has a single item on the agenda to “add” to the debate: “we must create a common Euro-Atlantic space of defense industries”. The minister understands that “this is the only way not only to continue to assist Ukraine at a sufficient level, but also to guarantee the security and defense capabilities of the NATO countries themselves.”
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister speaks about the limitations of the current capabilities of the defense industry in the Euro-Atlantic space, giving the example of promised deliveries of ammunition to Ukraine, which are slow to arrive.
“We have the case of 1 million artillery ammunition promised by the European Union,” the minister noted, confirming that “about 300 thousand have been delivered so far.” For this reason, he admits that “there is no lack of will [política]”, to guarantee the supply of ammunition, but rather “many technical matters that require a lot of attention and care”.
For example, Dimytro Kuleba argues in Brussels that the European defense industry must overcome the shortcomings that hinder its weapons production capacity.
According to the minister, “people with specific knowledge about how things work, how parts inventories work, how supply chains work, need to sit around the table and solve the problem, otherwise Europe will remain defenseless.”
Kuleba spoke alongside NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who again welcomed the availability of several allies to provide support to Ukraine. On the first day of this meeting, Stoltenberg highlighted the “new important announcements” seen in recent days.
“Germany promised 8 billion euros for next year and the Netherlands promised more than 2 billion euros; Romania opened an F 16 training center for Ukrainian pilots,” he illustrated, adding that “the allies, including the United States and Finland, are sending more aircraft for defense and ammunition, and twenty allies have created an air defense coalition for Ukraine.”
“All this helps save Ukrainian lives and sends a message to Russia that our support will not waver,” Jens Stoltenberg emphasized.
Source: DN
