“There are now hundreds of thousands of Allied troops at heightened readiness across the Alliance. One hundred thousand US troops in Europe and 40,000 forces under direct NATO command, mostly in the eastern part of the Alliance. All backed by major air and naval power. Including five carrier strike groups in the High North and in the Mediterranean,” he announced.
This comes before the NATO summit to be held in Brussels, which President Biden will be personally attending. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will also be addressing the alliance during the summit. Stoltenberg said that the NATO leaders would be deciding on further measures during the meeting.
“Tomorrow, NATO leaders will reaffirm our support to Ukraine. Ukraine has the right to self-defense under the UN Charter. And we are helping Ukrainians to uphold this fundamental right.”
Following this statement, Stoltenberg said that he expects NATO to send more military support to Ukraine, to work together to provide the country with anti-tank and air defense systems, drones, fuel, ammunition, and financial aid. Furthermore, additional support for cybersecurity and equipment to protect against chemical, biological, and nuclear threats were also expected to be discussed at the summit. Western intelligence said that Russia had been posturing to use chemical weapons in Ukraine to regain invasion momentum.
He also announced the deployment of four new NATO battlegroups to be stationed in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia.
“The first step is the deployment of four new NATO battlegroups in Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia, along with our existing forces in the Baltic countries and Poland,” he said. “This means that we will have eight multinational NATO battlegroups all along the eastern flank from the Baltic to the Black Sea.”
“Hundreds of thousands of NATO troops on heightened alert, roughly 100,000 US troops in Europe now; many of them in eastern part of the Alliance, and that is significantly more than before the crisis,” he explained.
Despite the support of NATO, he also reiterated that the alliance has a responsibility not to let the war escalate beyond Ukraine and have NATO as an official combatant against Russia.
“We are determined to do all we can to support Ukraine, but we have a responsibility to ensure that the war does not escalate beyond Ukraine and become a conflict between NATO and Russia,” Stoltenberg reiterated. “This would cause even more death and even more destruction.”
NATO Sec-Gen Stoltenberg calls out China "Beijing has joined Moscow in questioning the right of independent nations to choose their own path. China has provided Russia with political support including with spreading blatant lies and misinformation." @jensstoltenberg #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/h1WjQDrmI1
— Thomas Cole (@ThomasHCole) March 23, 2022
Lastly, the Secretary-General also expects that the role of China in addressing the conflict in Ukraine will be discussed during the meeting. Beijing had been both neutral and pro-Russian toward the issue due to its flourishing relations with Moscow. It can be remembered that China was one of the members that abstained from voting on condemning Russia of its invasion of Ukraine during the emergency United Nations General Assembly meeting. They were also approached by Russia to provide MREs to Russian troops, which both countries had denied.
“I expect leaders will call on China to live up to its responsibilities as a member of the UN Security Council. Refrain from supporting Russia’s war effort. And join the rest of the world in calling for an immediate, peaceful end to this war,” he said. “We also call on Belarus to end its complicity in Putin’s invasion.”
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