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BRUSSELS – NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stated that Ukraine’s foreign backers must be ready to maintain their military support for a long time.
“The need (for weapons) will continue, because this is a war of attrition; it is about the capacity of the industry to maintain support,” the official told the Guardian newspaper on Wednesday (22/3/2023).
He noted that Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure in the conflict with Russia has exceeded the production capacity of the countries arming Kiev.
The NATO chief urged members of the US-led bloc to increase their military spending to at least a target level of 2% of GDP, in order to sustain the war effort.
Moscow, Stoltenberg claims, is also running out of weapons, despite increasing its manufacturing, and is seeking weapons from other countries, including Iran and North Korea.
Such claims have been made repeatedly by Western officials, also with reference to China.
But Russia and those countries have all denied accusations of providing such supplies.
Stoltenberg also criticized Beijing’s attempts to mediate the conflict and broker a peace agreement. China, he said, needed to “understand the Ukrainian perspective” and “engage directly with President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy.”
