Helsinki (AFP)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced yesterday that the alliance has no plans to deploy forces in Ukraine, which has been supplying weapons to many NATO members since the crisis began more than two years ago.
“NATO has no plans to deploy forces in Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said during a visit to Finland, adding that the defense bloc wants “a long-term financial commitment to ensure that we stand by Ukraine no matter what it takes.”
He continued, “Over the past months, we have witnessed some gaps and some delays in providing military support to Ukraine,” adding, “We want to ensure that this does not happen again.”
This is Stoltenberg’s first visit to Finland since it joined NATO in April 2023, after decades of military non-alignment.
Stoltenberg’s visit coincided with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky joining Western leaders in France yesterday to commemorate the Normandy landings in World War II.
In response to a question about the risk of a Russian attack on a NATO member state, Stoltenberg replied, “We do not see an imminent military threat against any NATO member.”
“The idea that there is some kind of countdown to an upcoming war is wrong,” he said.
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