The NATO summit agreed on aid for Ukraine: what can we expect

The supply of American Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine is at stake

Anti-missile systems for Ukraine – the Pentagon signed a contract for the production of “Nasams”. It is planned to produce 6 advanced anti-aircraft missile systems for a total amount of more than 1.2 billion dollars by November 28, 2025. In addition to the complexes, it will include related equipment, services and spare parts. The US approved the delivery of Nasams to Ukraine after a series of missile and drone attacks. The first 2 systems arrived in November, the others are promised already next month. Our Air Force and the American Ministry of Defense confirm the 100% success of the “Nasams” in intercepting Russian weapons. More about armed assistance from allies was discussed at the NATO summit in Bucharest the day before. Dmytro Kuleba, head of our foreign policy department, also took part in the event, TSN reports.

Bucharest is a city where history turned in the wrong direction – in 2008, at the NATO summit, Ukraine and Georgia, with the consent of Russia, were refused an action plan regarding membership in the Alliance. 14 years later, NATO ministers are meeting in Romania again, but already to look for transformers, generators and weapons to protect Ukraine from Russian missiles.

But even years later – at this historical crossroads – politicians look at it differently. “Yes, we made a decision in Bucharest in 2008 – I was here as a young man, well, not so young, but not as old as now – the prime minister of Norway and I remember the decision very well. And we still support him – NATO’s doors remain open,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg notes.

In a joint statement, the NATO countries once again confirm that the doors of the Alliance are open for Ukraine, but for the sake of justice, the path to the doors has become longer and more difficult. In order to get closer to them, now, first of all, it is necessary to win a bloody and unjust war with the enemy, whose forces are significantly greater than the Ukrainian ones. Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the Alliance, notes that the Armed Forces are getting closer to NATO standards, and the transition from old Soviet to modern NATO weapons is ongoing. At the same time, according to United States Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, they are considering the possibility of resuming the production of some still Soviet types of weapons that are already in Ukraine.

The defense of Ukraine is complicated by the fact that Russia, which has already stopped pretending to protect or liberate someone on Ukrainian soil, is purposefully destroying the energy infrastructure. “Because President Putin cannot defeat Ukraine militarily, he is at war with civilians, trying to destroy the energy infrastructure: turn off the lights, turn off the heating, turn off the water, so that civilians suffer. And we heard directly from the minister what the current conditions are in Ukraine. But I can say that there is a clear intention of many countries to help, to be sure that we are helping Ukraine to protect its energy infrastructure and, if necessary, to restore what was destroyed by Russian aggression,” said Blinken.

Ukraine’s participation in NATO summits for the past 5 years has been blocking Putin’s closest satellite in the Alliance – Hungary. Therefore, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba is here at the personal invitation of Secretary General Stoltenberg. He meets with the heads of the most influential diplomacy – the Group of 7. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken invited everyone to dinner, shared photos on Instagram: the ministers are watching the World Cup, where the USA is playing against Iran. The relaxed atmosphere is not misleading, because important issues are sometimes resolved that way.

The supply of American Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine is at stake. After the fall of the missile in Peszów, Poland, Germany offered to transfer two batteries to the eastern flank of the Alliance, but the Polish government came out with a counter-offer – to give them to Ukraine. The United States has moved from the stage of denial to bargaining – if at the beginning of a full-scale war, they unequivocally stated that the “Patriot” could not be managed by anyone except NATO specialists, now they allow such a possibility. In an interview with CNN host Christine Amanpour, the Secretary of State most fully revealed the reasons why this has not happened yet. “We are very focused on supplying Ukraine with air defense systems, and not only us, but also many other countries. And we are working to ensure that Ukrainians receive these systems as quickly as possible, but also as efficiently as possible: that they know how to use them, repair them. All these factors have similarities,” said Blinken.

The generators, transformers, and spare parts for the repair of power grids, which the Alliance collected for Ukraine through joint efforts, will be nothing more than consumables if the sky is not protected, and the Western partners understand this. Air defense systems are indispensable, the American “NASAMS”, which are already in service with the Armed Forces, according to the Pentagon, demonstrated high efficiency during the last missile strikes – 10 interceptions for 10 missiles. But Russia’s strategy is to strike massively with drones and missiles to wear down Ukrainian air defense forces. Therefore, effective air defense systems are needed much more.

“You see, the problem with air defense systems is that you cannot, relatively speaking, buy them in a supermarket, or come to the warehouse and say – I’m taking this, this, and this. They are all painted, they all have a purpose, most of them already protect some parts of the space of certain countries. Therefore, if it is about, for example, getting some systems like Hawk, converting them and modernizing them a little, it is time. The desire and readiness to do it is there, but it is time. No one can remove the air defense system from combat duty. That is, problems of this nature. But there are no taboos on the topic of air defense, and all topics… Everything is discussed,” said Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba.

The Alliance members are unequivocally convinced that Russia’s victory is unacceptable. It would not only send a signal to other dictators that aggression can be a tool to achieve their goals, but also bring the obvious evil closer to their own borders. Therefore, they promise to help Ukraine as much as it will be necessary. Minister Kuleba said he has only three words for his partners: faster, faster, faster

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