- NATO calls Russia a “direct and significant threat”
- He says there are more weapons in the pipeline for the “heroic” Ukraine
- Ukraine praises NATO’s “difficult but essential decisions”
- Attacks with Russian missiles are intensifying in Ukraine
- The battle for the eastern city of Lysychansk continues
MADRID / Kyiv, June 29 (Reuters) – NATO on Wednesday called Russia a major “direct threat” to Western security following its invasion of Ukraine and agreed on plans to modernize the besieged armed forces of Kyiv, saying he was totally behind the “heroic defense of the Ukrainians.” your country “.
At a summit dominated by the invasion and geopolitical upheaval it has caused, NATO also invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance and pledged to multiply by seven by 2023 the combat forces on alert. maximum along its eastern flank against any future Russian attack.
U.S. President Joe Biden announced more ground, sea, and air force deployments across Europe from western Spain to Romania and Poland on the border with Ukraine. These include a permanent army headquarters with an escort battalion in Poland, the first full-time U.S. deployment in the eastern strip of NATO. Read more
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“President (Vladimir) Putin’s war against Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and created the biggest security crisis in Europe since World War II,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a press conference.
“NATO has responded with strength and unity,” he said.
As the 30 NATO national leaders gathered in Madrid, Russian forces intensified attacks on Ukraine, including missile attacks and bombings in the southern Mykolaiv region, near the front lines and the Black Sea.
The mayor of the city of Mykolaiv said a Russian missile had killed at least five people in a residential building there, while Moscow said its forces had hit what it called a training base for foreign mercenaries in the region.
The governor of the eastern province of Luhansk reported that he has “fought everywhere” in a battle around the city of Lysychansk, which Russian forces are trying to encircle as they gradually progress in a campaign to conquer the entire industrialized region of eastern Donbas of Ukraine on behalf of the separatist powers.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy reiterated to NATO leaders that Kyiv needed more weapons and money, and faster, to erode Russia’s huge advantage in artillery and missile firepower, and warned that ambitions of the Kremlin did not stop in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba praised NATO’s “clear position” on Russia and said the outcome of the summit shows that “it can make difficult but essential decisions”.
He added: “An equally strong and active position on Ukraine will help protect Euro-Atlantic security and stability.”
Kyiv has expressed concern that the West has been slow to offer more than moral support against an invasion that has devastated cities, killed thousands and sent millions to flee.
Russia says it is conducting a “special military operation” in Ukraine to rid it of dangerous nationalists. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of unprovoked and imperial-style land grabbing.
‘FULL SOLIDARITY’
A NATO statement called Russia a “most significant and direct threat to Allied security”, a look at the hasty deterioration of relations with Russia, formerly described as a “strategic partner” – since the invasion.
NATO issued a new strategic concept paper, the first since 2010, which said that “a strong and independent Ukraine is vital to the stability of the Euro-Atlantic area.”
A vision of the explosion when a Russian missile attack hits a mall in the middle of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in a place called Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, Ukraine, in this still image taken from an image of CCTV posted on June 28, 2022. CCTV via Instagram @ zelenskiy_official / Handout via REUTERS
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To this end, NATO agreed on a package of long-term financial and military aid to modernize the largely Soviet Ukrainian army.
“We fully support the government and people of Ukraine in the heroic defense of their country,” the statement said.
The U.S.-led alliance said it would also deploy more “combat-ready forces on the ground” on its eastern flank, expanding from existing battlegroups to brigade-sized units.
Stoltenberg said NATO had agreed to put 300,000 troops in high readiness by 2023, up from the current 40,000, under a new force model to protect an area stretching from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Read more
Zelenskiy, in a video link to the summit, said Ukraine needed $ 5 billion a month for its defense and protection.
“This is not a war that Russia is waging against only Ukraine. It is a war for the right to dictate conditions in Europe, as will the future world order,” he said.
NATO’s invitation to Sweden and Finland to join the alliance marks one of the most momentous changes in European security in decades, as Helsinki and Stockholm abandon a tradition of neutrality in response to the invasion of Russia. Read more
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said NATO expansion was “destabilizing” and would not improve the security of its members.
MILLING WAR
Russia’s intensified attacks on Ukraine, following a missile attack that killed at least 18 people in a mall in a central city far from the front lines, occur as Russian forces advance slowly but relentlessly in a war which reaches its fifth month.
Still, Western analysts say the Russians are suffering heavy casualties and depleting resources, while the prospect of more Western weapons reaching Ukraine, including long-range missile systems, underscores Moscow’s need to consolidate profits. be more urgent.
In Mykolaiv, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said eight Russian missiles had hit the city, including an apartment block. The photographs showed smoke coming out of a four-story building with the upper floor partially destroyed.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces carried out attacks on a military training base for “foreign mercenaries” near Mykolaiv and also hit ammunition fuel storage. Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports.
Mykolaiv, a river port and shipbuilding center along the Black Sea, has been a stronghold against Russian efforts to advance westward into Ukraine’s main port, Odessa.
Oleksander Vilkul, governor of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, said Russian bombing had also increased there.
The top US intelligence official said on Wednesday that Putin was still aiming to occupy most of Ukraine, but the most likely short-term scenario is an overwhelming conflict in which Moscow is only making incremental gains. , but no progress towards its goal.
“In short, the picture is still unpleasant,” Avril Haines, director of National Intelligence, told a conference in Washington.
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Reuters office reports; writing by Stephen Coates, Angus MacSwan and Mark Heinrich; edition by Peter Graff, Frank Jack Daniel and Gareth Jones
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