Stoltenberg thanks Bucharest Nine for supporting Ukraine

Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg attended the Bucharest Nine (B9) Summit by video teleconference on Friday, thanking the group for its significant contribution to Euroatlantic security, and support for Ukraine’s sovereignty.

That’s according to NATO’s press service, Ukrinform reports.

“The NATO Secretary General thanked the B9 group for their strong support of transatlantic unity, their significant contributions to Euro-Atlantic security, as well as their consistent support for Ukraine’s sovereignty. He stressed that today’s meeting is particularly timely in view of President Putin’s second invasion of Ukraine, leading to the worst security situation in Europe since World War Two,” reads the report.

NATO has responded quickly, Stoltenberg said, including by doubling the number of multinational battlegroups from the Baltic to the Black Sea, with new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia.

At the NATO Summit in Madrid, all 30 Alliance leaders will take the next steps to continue to adapt the Alliance to a more dangerous and competitive world. The Secretary General outlined the importance of further strengthening deterrence and defense, including on the eastern flank, with more combat-ready forces, together with more enablers and pre-positioning, to leave no doubt that NATO will protect every inch of Allied territory.

Stoltenberg also stressed the importance of continued investment in defense and resourcing the Alliance at this critical time, commending the B9 members for the fact that many of them meet or exceed the 2% target of GDP on defense spending.

The NATO B9 format was founded at the initiative of Polish and Romanian presidents after Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014. The group includes Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.

Photo: The Ukrainian President’s Office