He NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday that the allied summit in Washington will be “historic,” because “important decisions for the future” of the Alliance will be taken there.
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“This will be a historic summit,” the Norwegian politician told reporters upon his arrival at the convention centre in the US capital, where the event is taking place until Thursday.
Leaders of NATO member countries begin tough negotiations on Wednesday to strengthen their support for Ukraine. The heads of state and government arrived in the US capital on Tuesday, with the exception of French President Emmanuel Macron, who will arrive on Wednesday.
The Washington summit is taking place amid a climate of political uncertainty in the United States, where Biden is struggling to quell a rebellion by Democratic congressmen who are calling on him to drop out of the race for a second term against Donald Trump.
The shadow of former Republican President Donald Trump also looms over the summit. He did not hesitate to say on his social network Truth Social that without him “NATO would probably no longer exist,” referring to the fact that during his term he pressured member countries to spend more on defense.
Ukraine, the central theme of the NATO summit in Washington
After having celebrated with great fanfare the 75th anniversary of the Western military alliance on Tuesday, The leaders will meet on Wednesday to discuss the modalities of this increased support for Ukraine, the target of increasingly intense Russian bombing.
The Secretary General of the Alliance said that will make “important decisions for the future,” with more support for Ukraine and closer relations with Pacific partners.
Stoltenberg said he hoped that the leaders would agree on a “solid bridge to Ukraine’s entry into the Alliance” through a new support package. based on five key points.
First, NATO will coordinate international military aid to Ukraine and efforts to train its troops.
The allies are also expected to agree on a long-term commitment to fund arms for Ukraine, worth around 40 billion euros annually.and make further announcements of immediate military support, including air defense.
On Tuesday, the United States, Germany and Romania pledged to send additional Patriot batteries to Ukraine, while the Netherlands and other partners will donate Patriot components to enable the operation of such an anti-aircraft battery and Italy will donate a SAMP-T system.
It is time to come out of the shadows, to make firm decisions, to work, to act and not wait for November or any other month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is in Washington, has been calling for them for months. Russia has recently stepped up its missile attacks on Ukraine, killing 43 people and devastating the country’s largest children’s hospital in kyiv this week. Russian missiles have also destroyed half of the country’s energy capacity.
On Tuesday, Zelensky thanked his allies for their “strong statement” of support and asked them not to let their guard down awaiting the results of the November elections in the United States.
“It is time to come out of the shadows, to make firm decisions, to work, to act and not wait for November or any other month,” the Ukrainian president said in a speech at the Ronald Reagan Institute in Washington.
Regarding Ukraine, The allies will also greenlight new bilateral security agreements with kyiv and continue to move to ensure full interoperability between Ukrainian and NATO forces, including a new training centre in Poland.
Stoltenberg said he hoped that the allied leaders would reiterate in the summit declaration their commitment to Ukraine becoming a NATO member in the future.
Regarding deterrence and defense, he said that The Alliance has already placed 500,000 troops on very high readiness and they will have a new ballistic defence site in Poland. as part of NATO’s integrated air system.
The war in Ukraine shows how intertwined our security is
The Secretary General also highlighted the progress made in military spending by the Allies, with 23 of them already investing 2% of their GDP in defence, which in his opinion indicates that “the Allies take security extremely seriously.”
Finally, on Thursday there will be a meeting with partners in the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan) to strengthen their relations.
“The war in Ukraine shows how intertwined our security is, because Iran, North Korea and China are the main enablers of Russia’s war against Ukraine,” he concluded.
In the evening, the leaders will attend a dinner, which will also be attended by the foreign and defence ministers of the NATO countries.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who holds the rotating EU presidency, will have the opportunity to report on his controversial trips to Moscow and Beijing.
The Ukrainian president, for his part, will meet with lawmakers before taking part in a NATO-Ukraine Council on Thursday, the last day of the summit.
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