Monitoring Desk
DAVOS: NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday said that Ukraine needs a remarkable increase in weapons at a pivotal moment in the Russian invasion, and such aid is the only way to a negotiated peaceful solution.
On Friday, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and defense leaders from around 50 countries will hold talks at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The talks will be the latest in a series of meetings since the Russian invasion of Ukraine around 11 months ago.
“This is a critical moment in the Ukraine war and the need for a remarkable increase in support for Ukraine,” The NATO chief said in an interview with the Reuters news agency at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland.
“If we want a peaceful solution tomorrow, we need to provide more arms today.”
The focus in Ramstein is probably to be not on what the US will provide however on whether Germany will lift its opposition to send its Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine or at least approve the transfer of these tanks from allied countries.
NATO chief welcomes UK decision
Stoltenberg remained cautious, saying consultations were continuing, although he welcomed the UK decision to dispatch Challenger tanks to Ukraine.
This week, the UK raised the pressure on Germany by becoming the first Western nation to send tanks, pledging a squadron of 14 Challengers tanks, but the Leopards are seen as the perfect choice to supply Ukraine with a huge-scale tank force.
Ukraine says it hopes new Western weapons will give it fresh military momentum this year, cumbersome tanks which would provide its forces more protection and mobility to push through Russian lines in the south and east of the country.
Beyond tanks, the NATO chief said Ukraine needed more air defense systems and armour, ammunition, maintenance capabilities, and spare parts to ensure its existing weapons continued functioning.
