One month after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, today all eyes are on Brussels and on the triple appointment of diplomacy: NATO, G7 and European Council. NATO, reiterated the secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, will not send troops or aircraft to Ukraine, because it wants to avoid an escalation of the conflict as "it would be dangerous and devastating". Despite the pressure from Volodymyr Zelensky who addressed the leaders of the 30 countries that are part of the Atlantic Alliance, via video link, accusing the Alliance of still not having provided "a clear answer" to Kiev's request for help, "in any format" and requested "more weapons than just defensive ones", but this time he did not speak of a no fly zone. In view of the situation in Ukraine, the Allies have agreed on the one-year extension of Stoltenberg's mandate at the helm of NATO until October 2023.
An important day for diplomacy, three summits that bring together the world that is imposed on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and which arouses much anticipation but also raises several questions. The leaders of the Atlantic Alliance met today to "further strengthen NATO's deterrence and defense mechanisms" in the long term to face "a new reality for our security". "NATO's deterrence has been strengthened with more combat aircraft, ships and submarines." This was stated by the NATO secretary general at the end of the extraordinary summit.
NATO: "Four new battalions in Slovakia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary"
In the immediate future, NATO will strengthen the eastern flank by deploying four new units fighters: they will be deployed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, in addition to the forces already present since 2014 in Poland and the Baltic countries. For a total of 8 multinational NATO battalion groups from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea.
The allies also agreed to provide more assistance to Ukraine, including from a military point of view. These include anti-tank weapons, anti-missile defenses and drones, which have proven to be very effective. The allies will then "assist Ukraine with financial and humanitarian aid," said the NATO secretary general.
Furthermore, the Atlantic Alliance announces interventions to improve the common defence against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats, but also assistance against cyberattacks. “Anything needed to support Ukraine” and not only that but also to those risky partners who might get in the way like the Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina “to help them secure their sovereignty and strengthen their resilience,” Stoltenberg added.
NATO: "Russia negotiates with Kiev, immediately a ceasefire"
“Russia must demonstrate that it is seriously interested in negotiations by immediately implementing a ceasefire. We call on Russia to constructively engage in credible negotiations with Ukraine to achieve concrete results, starting with a sustainable ceasefire and moving towards a complete withdrawal of its troops from Ukrainian territory,” the statement released at the end of the summit reads. extraordinary of the Atlantic Alliance.
Stoltenberg: "Beijing condemns the invasion"
NATO then spoke of the role of China. China which in the morning accused NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg of "spreading disinformation" when he issued a new invitation to the Dragon to "condemn the invasion" and "not to give political and military support to Moscow", in an attempt to push Xi Jinping to change position on the ongoing war. The Chinese reply was not long in coming, stating that it supported Russia's war "in the midst of growing international pressure for Beijing to distance itself from Moscow". Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin added in the daily briefing that "China's position is consistent with the wishes of most countries, and any unjustified accusations and suspicions against China will be defeated."
Zelensky to NATO: "We need unlimited military aid"
In his speech in connection with Brussels, the Ukrainian president sends a strong message to the Alliance: “Ukraine has turned to you to get the planes, to avoid so many losses. You have thousands of fighter planes but you haven't supplied us with a single one." The Ukrainian president then added: “You have at least 20.000 tanks. Ukraine asked for 1%. Give them to us or sell them to us. But we don't have a clear answer." Zelensky explained that the means are used to "unblock our cities, where Russia holds hundreds of thousands of people hostage, artificially creating hunger, literally destroying residential neighborhoods in the ashes".
But NATO has not yet formally responded to Zelensky's requests, limiting itself to saying that the amount of weapons such as anti-tank, anti-missile defenses and drones will be increased.
Zelensky then accused Russia of using phosphorus bombs in Ukraine. And to have invested in death, while the world invested in life. Moscow denies the use of these weapons as "prohibited by international conventions, by the UN", the spokesman of the Russian embassy in Paris, Alexander Makogonov, told Bfmtv.
Stoltenberg commented at the end of the NATO summit that "Russia is looking for a pretext for the use of chemical weapons by accusing Ukraine of doing the same". And that "the accusations against Ukraine are absolutely false and any use of chemical weapons totally changes the nature of the conflict" and "will have widespread consequences", concluded the secretary general.
