NATO members embarked on a logistical race on Tuesday to speed up their deliveries of arms and ammunition to Ukraine, while tackling the sensitive issue of the supply of combat aircraft to enable it to resist the Russia.
"The priority, the urgency, is to provide the Ukrainians with the armaments that have been promised to them to maintain their ability to defend themselves," insisted Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the Alliance, before a meeting of the "Ramstein group ".
All decisions on arms shipments to Ukraine are taken by this body constituted and chaired by the United States, in which some fifty countries participate. Most of its meetings take place at the American base at Ramstein in Germany.
"We will provide the Ukrainians with the means to hold out and advance during the spring counter-offensive," assured US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. He insisted on artillery, anti-aircraft defense and armored vehicles but did not mention combat aircraft in the planned arms deliveries.
"Combat planes are not the most urgent issue but a discussion is underway," assured Jens Stoltenberg.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meanwhile insisted in the evening on the need for rapid arms deliveries to his country, as Russian military pressure is growing in the east.
"Ukraine and its partners are doing everything together for the terrorist state to lose. And for this to happen as soon as possible," he said, referring to agreements for "more air defense systems, more tanks, more artillery and shells".
These Ukrainian demands, regularly repeated, are becoming more insistent at a time when Russian troops are advancing little by little in the east and in particular north of Bakhmout, the epicenter of the clashes for several months.
Fierce fighting continues around this fortress city, an AFP team noted on Tuesday.
"Bakhmut will not be taken tomorrow, because there is a strong resistance, a shelling, the meat grinder is in action", admitted the head of the Russian paramilitary organization Wagner, Evguéni Prigojine, whose men are in front line in this battle.
Mr Zelensky spoke on Tuesday of an "extremely difficult" situation in the Lugansk and Donetsk regions, where soldiers are fighting "for every meter of Ukrainian land".
Present at the meeting with Westerners on Tuesday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiï Reznikov, for his part, insisted in his own way on the request for fighter planes for Kiev by smoothing out in front of the cameras a scarf worn in a pocket on which was drawn a of these devices.
"He is in his role but the Ukrainians know very well that it will take at least a year to get them," said one of the participants.
"Everyone understands that the issue of air defense and the issue of ammunition resupply are much more important at the moment than the discussion about combat aircraft," German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.
Several announcements were made after the meeting, including that of the supply of a Mamba air defense system (SAM-T), the equivalent of the Patriot, by France and Italy. A weapon worth 500 million euros. France will also produce 155 mm shells with Australia and the AMX-10 armored vehicles promised to Ukraine will be delivered in the coming days.
Germany, for its part, reported the relaunch of an ammunition production line for the Gepard anti-aircraft defense tanks. According to the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, the first contract is for 300,000 munitions to be delivered to kyiv from July.
Ammunition for the armaments supplied to Ukraine has become the priority and the problem of the allies.
"This is a war of attrition and a logistical battle," Stoltenberg insisted. Russian President "Vladimir Putin is not preparing for peace. He is preparing for a new offensive, new attacks".
The NATO chief had warned on Monday that Ukraine was using more ammunition than the Alliance could produce. "This is depleting our stocks and putting pressure on our defense industries," Stoltenberg said.
The schedule for the supply of armaments and the training of Ukrainian units in Europe has become a major issue in this conflict launched in February 2022.
"The Russians have no inhibitions about their losses. The offensive is launched with a mass of fighters and this causes tensions and difficulties on the ground", underlined one of the participants.
The pace of Ukrainian military training in Poland has accelerated with the aim of having three battalions for the summer, he said.
14/02/2023 22:07:30 - Bruxelles (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
