Stoltenberg says Putin made strategic mistakes when he invaded Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin made several strategic mistakes when he invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this before the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday, April 21, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"President Putin made several big mistakes, strategic mistakes, when he invaded Ukraine. The first was to totally underestimate the strength of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. He thought that he was going to control Ukraine within weeks, and take Kyiv within days. Then he totally underestimated NATO Allies, and our partners in our resolve to support Ukraine," he said.

Stoltenberg also added that Putin "has now been in Ukraine for more than a year and he does in no way control the country as he planned."

He recalled that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had expelled Russian forces from a part of occupied territories, including from near Kyiv. He said that the Ukrainian forces had also pushed back the Russian forces in the east around Kharkiv and then in the south around Kherson.

"And we are now helping them [Ukraine] to liberate more land by providing more advanced systems. On the battle tanks: Well, first of all, I think you need to understand that we speak about, many types of battle tanks, but also older ones. But now Allies are delivering a significant number of advanced modern NATO standard battle tanks. Like the Leopard 2, like the Challenger from the United Kingdom, the Abrams. But in addition to the advanced modern NATO standard battle tanks, Allies are also delivering infantry fighting vehicles, armed personnel carriers, a lot of armor and ammunition and equipment to these. So all of this is really advanced high-end capabilities that can enable the Ukrainians to push through the Russian lines," Stoltenberg said.