NAt the press conference at the end of the first day of work at the NATO summit, which runs until Thursday in Washington, Jens Stoltenberg justified the allies’ commitment to support Ukraine with an annual amount of no less than 40 billion euros.
“We are not doing this because we want to prolong the war, but because we want to end it as quickly as possible,” he argued.
He added: “Unless we want Ukraine to lose, unless we want to bow down to [o Presidente russo, Vladimir] Putin, we have to show commitment.”
“At our meeting, we also decided to take further steps to bring Ukraine even closer to NATO,” he said, speaking of an “irreversible path towards the integration” of the country into the Atlantic Alliance.
According to the NATO Secretary General, it is necessary to ensure that “when the time is right”, Ukraine will join the organization “without delay”.
“It’s not a question of if but when,” he stressed.
At the press conference, the NATO Secretary General also welcomed the increased investment in defence by allied countries, highlighting that the total now exceeds 2% of the Gross Domestic Product of European member states and Canada.
“We delivered,” he said, referring to the commitment made at last year’s NATO summit.
Still in relation to Ukraine, the Secretary-General considered that important decisions were taken, such as NATO assuming the coordination of international aid to this country through a command led by a three-star general and with around 700 people working at the military complex in Wiesbaden, Germany.
“NATO will coordinate the training of Ukrainian forces at facilities in allied countries,” as well as donations to the country, he said.
However, Stoltenberg considered that this support “does not make NATO a party to the conflict”, but will help Ukraine in its right to self-defense.
The summit marking NATO’s 75th anniversary is also the last for current Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who will be succeeded by former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.
Under the leadership of Norwegian Stoltenberg, which began on October 1, 2014, NATO gained four new members by integrating Montenegro (2017), North Macedonia (2020), Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024).
Portugal is one of the 12 countries in Europe and North America that founded NATO in 1949.
[Notícia atualizada às 23h14]
Read Also: NATO. Stoltenberg defends Ukraine’s membership in case of “ceasefire”
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Source: https://www.noticiasaominuto.com/mundo/2596170/adesao-da-ucrania-a-nato-nao-e-uma-questao-de-se-mas-de-quando
