The NATO secretary general admitted on Tuesday that Europe must be ready to receive more refugees from Ukraine, arguing that Russia is targeting critical infrastructure in that country to inflict “as much suffering as possible.”
“Of course we have to be prepared for more refugees to cross into the rest of Europe. This is a war, it is a brutal war and there is a deliberate attack on critical services: heating, electricity, water, gas. And, of course, the The aim of this is to inflict as much suffering as possible on Ukrainian civilians in order to try to break their commitment and their unity against the invasion of Russia,” Jens Stoltenberg stated.
The NATO Secretary General was speaking to journalists at the entrance to the meeting of the North Atlantic Council, NATO’s main political decision-making body, which will bring together foreign ministers today and Wednesday at the Parliament Palace in Bucharest , capital of Romania. .
The Norwegian leader stressed that millions of people have already been forced to leave Ukraine since the start of the war in February, many of them bound for Romania, a border country, “close to three million”, stressing the importance of this happening. this meeting. in Bucharest.
Stoltenberg was “absolutely sure” that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not succeed” and that Ukrainian civilians, armed forces and leaders “will not go bankrupt”.
“These brutal attacks on critical civilian infrastructure are only encouraging the Allies to do even more, because we have to make sure Russia doesn’t win,” he stressed.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.8 million to European countries-, according to the most recent data. of the UN, which catalogs this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin as the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the wider international community, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia in political and economic sanctions.
The UN presented as confirmed since the beginning of the war 6,655 dead civilians and 10,368 wounded, stressing that these figures are far below the real ones.
Source: TSF
