Jens Stoltenberg made the declaration during a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
The NATO chief said the alliance would provide more cold weather clothing, demining capabilities, fuel, and medical equipment “to help Ukraine weather another difficult winter.”
Summing up the latest meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a group of over 50 countries that support Ukraine, Stoltenberg said it had focused on Ukraine’s most pressing needs as Russia is ''preparing once again to use winter as a weapon of war.''
The NATO chief promised that the alliance would maintain and step up its assistance for Ukraine and welcomed allies’ new pledges of weapons supplies for Kyiv, according to reports.
The United States announced a new USD 200 million defence package, including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian unmanned aerial vehicles, the Reuters news agency reported.
Germany unveiled a fresh EUR 1 billion “winter package” that includes new air defence systems, and a UK-led group of countries announced assistance with mine-clearing, Stoltenberg said.
Meanwhile, Denmark and Belgium reiterated their promises to supply F-16 fighter jets, among other pledges, he added.
Earlier in the day, NATO allies and Ukraine had convened a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council to discuss Kyiv’s priorities on its path to membership of the Western alliance, the PAP news agency reported.
Stoltenberg stressed that the new body had been created at NATO’s July summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, as one of three “historic” measures to bring Ukraine closer to the pact.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky visited NATO’s headquarters on Wednesday as he seeks military support ahead of another wartime winter, Reuters reported.
The Brussels gathering was held as Western attention focused on the turmoil in the Middle East following the attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas on Israel, while the US Congress was delaying approval of aid for Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Stoltenberg said he was confident NATO allies would keep supporting Ukraine as it was in their own security interests.
The NATO chief added: "We have the capability and the strength to address different challenges at the same time. We don't have the luxury of choosing only one threat and one challenge.“
Similarly, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters: “In terms of our ability to continue to support both the efforts in Ukraine and support the efforts in Israel as well, absolutely, we can do both and we will do both.”
After attending the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, Zelensky welcomed these assurances while acknowledging there was uncertainty, according to Reuters.
He said: "My question was ... will your support be less than now? The partners say 'no'. But who knows how it will be? I think nobody knows."
Ukraine’s president said his country needed more air defence systems to deal with Russian attacks on its energy grid in the winter, as well as artillery and ammunition to enable Ukrainian forces to continue their counteroffensive and keep fighting through the coldest months, Reuters reported.
Zelensky told reporters: "The winter air defence is a significant part of the answer to the question of when this war will end and whether it will end justly for Ukraine.”
He drew a parallel between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hamas, saying: "Terrorists like Putin or like Hamas seek to hold free and democratic nations as hostages and they want power."
Meanwhile, NATO’s defence chiefs were set to continue their get-together on Thursday, with talks expected to focus on ways to strengthen the alliance’s deterrence and defence policy, NATO’s missions and operations, damage to critical infrastructure under the Baltic Sea and the situation in the Middle East, according to officials.
Wednesday was day 595 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, NATO, Reuters
