NATO Secretary-General: Ukraine needs more heavy weapons

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg supports the provision of heavy weapons to Ukraine by the Allies

He said this after a meeting in The Hague with the leaders of the Netherlands, Denmark, Romania, Belgium, Poland, Portugal, and Latvia, the European Pravda reports.

"Yes, there should be more heavy weapons in Ukraine. And NATO allies and partners have long provided heavy weapons, but they are also stepping up their efforts," Stoltenberg said.

According to the Secretary-General, the meeting discussed Ukraine's support in the short and long term.

Stoltenberg noted that the Ukraine Defense Contact Group of Support meeting would take place on Wednesday at NATO Headquarters.

This format was established on the Rammstein base a few months ago and met regularly to coordinate the efforts of Allies and NATO partners to provide various weapons and military equipment, including heavy weapons, to Ukraine.

"Since 2014, NATO allies have trained and armed tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and officers who are now on the front lines in the face of president putin's brutal invasion.

But they must be prepared for the long journey because it is impossible to predict how and when this war will end. So Ukraine must be ready to continue for a long time, and we will continue to provide support," he said.

Stoltenberg also said at the meeting that NATO should increase its readiness and armaments on the eastern border.

"We discussed the need for a more reliable and capable advanced presence—even higher readiness. And more than pre-deployed equipment.

We also considered the need to invest more in our defense and invest more together to strengthen NATO's joint funding," Stoltenberg said.

According to him, the next NATO Strategic Concept will be agreed upon at the summit in Madrid.

To recap, Germany announced plans to supply the Gepard tanks, Panzerhaubitze 2000 howitzers, the Iris-T anti-aircraft system, and the Mars multiple rocket launcher to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The government noted that it was difficult to talk about arms delivery schedules to Ukraine for organizational and security reasons.

Despite Scholz's statements about increasing military aid to Ukraine, it hasn't received a single unit of German weapons.