Ukraine urgently needs more air defense systems - Stoltenberg

According to an Ukrinform correspondent, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this before a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council in defense ministers' format in Brussels on Tuesday.

"The most urgent need now is more air defense. And we are working with NATO Allies, and many of them also of course EU members, on stepping up the delivery of ammunition, air defense systems, and in particular the most advanced ones, the Patriot systems. So, we have seen some progress. But more progress and more air defense systems are urgently needed in Ukraine. And this is also the message from the NATO-Ukraine Council, which is meeting at NATO today," Stoltenberg said.

He added that Allies are now working on how NATO can coordinate the provision of equipment and training to Ukraine.

"We have received a proposal from our Supreme Allied Commander, SACEUR, on how to organize this. So, NATO coordinates the support of military equipment and training to Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.

According to him, the participants in the meeting in Brussels will discuss his multi-year financial pledge of long-term support for Ukraine so that "we prevent gaps and delays, as we have seen recently, and that Ukraine gets predictable, accountable support for the long haul."

"We are also working with industry to ramp up production. We have seen some important decisions lately on more investments, more production. But we need more and we are working closely with the transatlantic defense industrial base to ramp up production," Stoltenberg added.

Photo: Europa Press