The Nato secretary general has urged members of the transatlantic military alliance to ramp up ammunition production for Ukraine as he warned Vladimir Putin was preparing for new offensives and attacks.
“We see no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace. What we see is the opposite, he is preparing for more war, for new offensives and new attacks,” Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.
As Nato defence ministers in Brussels, Stoltenberg said the question of supplying fighter jets to Ukraine was on the agenda but “not the most urgent issue now”.
Instead, he said, “the urgent issue right now is to deliver what has always been promised”, namely armoured vehicles, including German Marders and US Bradleys, Leopard battle tanks and others. “We need the training, we need the equipment, we need the ammunition and that’s exactly what allies are now providing and will be a top issue at the meetings today here at Nato.”
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin told a separate meeting of Ukraine’s allies that it “has urgent requirements to help it meet this crucial moment in the course of the war” and as a group it was working to ensure they had the armour, firepower and the logistics.
“We believe that there’ll be a window of opportunity for them to exercise initiative,” Austin said.
“The Kremlin is still betting it can wait us out, but one year on we are as united as ever. That shared resolve will help sustain Ukraine’s momentum in the crucial weeks ahead.”
According to the Associated Press, Ukraine is firing up to 6,000-7,000 artillery shells a day, about a third of the number Russia is using.
Nato countries have been supplying Ukraine with ammunition from their own stocks, but supplies are dwindling, putting western defence industries under strain. According to Nato, the waiting time for large-calibre ammunition has increased from 12 to 28 months, meaning orders placed today would not be delivered until summer 2025.
Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, taking part in both the Nato ministerial and the meeting of the Ukraine defence contact group, a US-initiative that convenes more than 50 countries supporting Kyiv in its defence against Russian aggression, said his goals included protecting Ukraine’s skies, “strengthening the tank coalition”, securing sufficient ammunition, ensuring more training for the Ukrainian army and stable logistics, maintenance and repair of weapons.
Nato countries meet against a backdrop of tensions between Turkey and Sweden, which, along with Finland, applied to join the alliance following Russia’s invasion last year. Turkey is one of only two of Nato’s 28 members yet to ratify Sweden and Finland’s membership bids, over a dispute with Stockholm about Kurdish militants that few expect to be resolved before Turkish elections in May.
Turkey has refused to ratify the two membership bids, as it demands Sweden extradite dozens of outlawed Kurdish fighters it has accused of taking part in a 2016 coup. The Swedish government has strengthened its counter-terrorism legislation, but says only the courts can decide on extradition. Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has suggested he could accept Finland’s membership, without Sweden.
Stoltenberg suggested Finland and Sweden could join Nato separately, although he wanted both in the alliance as soon as possible. “The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together. The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible. And I’m confident that both will be full members.”