The NATO countries will supply Ukraine with modern heavy weapons, but this "takes time" because it requires the training of the Ukrainian military in their use, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced today.
"We have taken the urgent measure, but time is needed," he explained during a press conference before the start of the meeting of NATO defence ministers.
"The transition from Soviet-era military hardware to modern NATO hardware requires Ukrainian readiness to use it," the Secretary General said. "It is a difficult, demanding transition."
NATO allies have so far supplied Ukraine with Soviet-era heavy weapons from their stockpiles because Ukrainians have been trained to use them. Kiev's requests now concern weapons systems that the allied forces have.
"These are long-range systems, anti-aircraft systems with NATO specifications, which requires training, maintenance," insisted Stoltenberg, who was attending a meeting in The Hague yesterday with the leaders of seven alliance countries (the Netherlands, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Portugal, Denmark and Latvia).
Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov will participate in the NATO ministerial meeting. It will be preceded by a meeting of the "contact group" set up by the U.S.
"Minister Reznikov will give a briefing on the urgent needs, the type of equipment and their mission so that the weapons systems can play a decisive role on the battlefields," the NATO Secretary General said.
Ukraine is asking for 300 multi-launch rocket systems, 2,000 armored vehicles and 1,000 drones among other things, Mikhail Podolyak, an adviser to President Zelensky, made known before the NATO summit on his Twitter account.
Source: Proto Thema
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