IRIA News

NATO Defense Ministers concluded two days of meetings in Brussels and agreed to step up support for Ukraine and strengthen deterrence and defense with new regional plans.

NATO Allies agreed that increasing support for Ukraine remains crucial and welcomed new announcements from Allies, including the initiative led by the Netherlands and Denmark to start training Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighter jets and, together with the United Kingdom and the United States, to deliver short and medium-range air defense missiles.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a press conference in Brussels on June 16 that NATO also plans to invite Ukraine into a new NATO-Ukraine defense council as an equal member. Stoltenberg added that “the details of the council will be announced next month at NATO’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.”

According to the NATO statement, at the Vilnius Summit, the Allies will take steps to further strengthen deterrence and defense, including new regional plans. Stoltenberg highlighted that “for the first time since the Cold War, Allies are fully connecting the planning for our collective defense with the planning for our forces, capabilities, and command and control”. The statement added that NATO will have over 300,000 troops on high readiness, backed by substantial air and maritime capabilities to defend every inch of Allied territory against any threat.

We have just wrapped up our 13th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. It once again demonstrated the unity and the resolve that has characterized this group ever since I convened our very first meeting. pic.twitter.com/TTKOojCOdB

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 15, 2023

The Pentagon statement highlighted that NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg said that the Alliance is focused “to bring Ukraine closer to alliance membership”. Stoltenberg added that “NATO has an open door policy regarding membership, and Russia cannot impact that decision, he said. Stoltenberg added that Sweden will also be welcomed into the alliance — hopefully very soon.”

NATO members also discussed modernization and standardization of munitions to benefit the Allies as well as deliberate on “the development of a new Defence Production Action Plan; the approval of new capability targets for battle decisive ammunitions; and the establishment of a NATO Maritime Centre for the Security of Critical Undersea Infrastructure,” the NATO statement added.

During the Allies Defense Ministers meeting, NATO leaders also agreed that the minimum for member nations’ defense spending would be 2% of gross domestic product and the 2% figure can be exceeded by allied nations “to keep people safe in an increasingly dangerous world”.

Following the Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting, U.S. Secretary of Defense Austin said during a press briefing that “We were fortunate to be joined yet again by my good friend, Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov. As always, this Contact Group benefits hugely from hearing firsthand from him and his team about the state of the battlefield and Ukraine’s most urgent needs.”

He added that “We have great confidence in the training and the capabilities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces thanks in large part to the tireless and combined work of the Contact Group’s members.”

Austin said, that the participants were also briefed by the leaders of U.S. European Command on “future training plans as well as efforts to maintain and sustain the equipment that we’ve already provided and to ensure that Ukraine can do so for future equipment.”

It’s great to be back at NATO for the Defense Ministerial. We just had another productive meeting with my counterparts on the North Atlantic Council.

Together, we remain united and our alliance has never been stronger. pic.twitter.com/xG6Oko5AIE

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) June 16, 2023

The U.S. defense secretary told journalists that “We also heard from our friends from Germany and Poland on their work sustaining Ukraine’s new Leopard tanks, and our colleagues from the Netherlands and Denmark shared the progress that they’ve made on plans to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft, including F-16s.”

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley said, “Through a global effort, more than 6,000 Ukrainians are being trained right now at 40 different locations – training locations in 65 courses in 33 nations on three continents.”

U.S. General Milley added that “Since the beginning of the war, the United States has trained over 11,000 Ukrainians in combined arms maneuver and staff training. The U.S. training effort has created 12 maneuver battalions, nearly 5,000 operators that are fighting in those machines right now, along with their combined arms staffs. We are currently training three battalions — a tank battalion and two territorial National Guard battalions.”

The Pentagon statement highlighted that last week, the U.S. announced a $2 billion military assistance package for Ukraine. The package contains critical capabilities, including Patriot munitions, HAWK air defense systems, artillery rocket munitions, and maintenance and sustainment support.

The Ukrainian forces are using the U.S.-made Patriot missile system, armored vehicles, and HIMARS to counter Russian forces. U.S. General Milley said, “We see Ukrainians effectively leveraging anti-armor weapons, advanced munitions, and sophisticated air defense systems.”

Before the NATO ministers meeting, Stoltenberg said that Ukraine’s ongoing counter-offensive is still in its early days, and “we do not know if this will be a turning point of the war, but we see that the Ukrainians are making advances and liberating more land. We know that the more gains Ukraine makes, the stronger their hand will be at the negotiating table.”

The NATO secretary general added that “The more gains Ukraine makes, the more likely it will be that President Putin realizes he cannot win on the battlefield, but has to negotiate a just peace.”