Thursday, April 20, 2023, 10:58
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the NATO has shown his support for kyiv, but has avoided a photo of its general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, with the president Volodimir Zelensky, due to its possible implications in the conflict. All this has changed this Thursday, when the political chief of the Atlantic Alliance has traveled by surprise to the Ukrainian capital, as reported by a NATO spokesman. This is his first visit to the country since the war began.
At the moment, the schedule of meetings that Stoltenberg will hold during his visit to Kiev, which takes place the day before he participates in the meeting of the Rammstein group, the coalition of fifty countries that support Ukraine militarily, is unknown.
In the early stages of the conflict, NATO ruled out sending troops and fighter jets to Ukraine, as it is not a partner in the military alliance. In this way, it has wanted to avoid an open conflict with Russia, although it has supported the shipment of arms and military equipment to kyiv. It has also strengthened its defenses in eastern Europe and increased its rapid response forces to 300,000. “Our intention is not to provoke a conflict, but to prevent it,” Stoltenberg said in March of last year. However, it was clear that any Russian attack on an ally will have a proportional response: “NATO will defend every inch of allied territory against any aggression.”
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