More than 50 countries gather on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels on Wednesday (October 12) to discuss bolstering Ukraine’s air defence, two days after Russian missiles rained on Kyiv and other cities across the country.
The gathering in Brussels is the first big NATO meeting since Russia annexed four occupied Ukrainian regions, began a partial mobilisation and issued veiled nuclear threats – moves the Western alliance has classified as a clear escalation of the war that started with Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
Two days after Russian air missile strikes killed 19 people in Ukraine and knocked out power supplies across the country, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the attack “deepened the determination of the Ukrainian people and further united countries of goodwill from every region on earth.”
“We will continue to boost Ukraine’s defensive capabilities for today’s urgent needs and for the long haul,” he added.
On Tuesday, Ukraine received the first of four IRIS-T SLM air defence systems that Germany had promised to supply, German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht confirmed before the meeting.
“It’s so important that Ukraine can now defend itself against these attacks with this air defence system. This is one system (that has been delivered), and next year another three such air defence systems will follow,” she said.
NATO defence ministers will first meet with partners of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a body established on the initiative of the United States to keep up arms supplies to Kyiv. Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov will also take part.
Defence ministers from NATO candidates Sweden and Finland also joined the meeting, three months after the two Scandinavian countries applied for NATO membership in response to the Feb. 24 invasion.
“This is a historic moment. Finland is participating for the first time as an invitation to this ministerial meeting of defence ministers of NATO. And of course, looking forward to becoming a full member of NATO soon,” Finnish Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen said, adding that he would meet counterparts from the two NATO members that haven’t yet approved its candidacy, Turkey and Hungary.
Moscow, which calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation” to eliminate dangerous nationalists and protect Russian speakers, has accused the West of escalating the conflict by supporting Kyiv.
Ukraine accuses Russia of an unprovoked imperialist land grab, three decades after the Moscow-led Soviet Union broke up.
(Reuters)