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NATO treads careful path between Ukraine support and own security

"This has been the right thing to do, but of course, we need to address how to refill those stocks we need to scale up to be able to help Ukraine defend even more cities and more territory against the horrific Russian attacks against their civilian populations," alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said.

DPA WORLD
Published October 12,2022
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NATO defence ministers aimed to find a balance on Wednesday between ramping up support for Ukraine and replenishing the alliance's stockpiles.

Allies provided support to Ukraine by burning through NATO stocks, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said on his arrival in Brussels for the first day of the two-day meeting.

"This has been the right thing to do, but of course, we need to address how to refill those stocks," he said.

The 30-member alliance is gathered at NATO headquarters after Russia launched a wave of missile strikes by land, sea and air on many Ukrainian cities on Monday, killing more than a dozen people and damaging energy infrastructure.

The Russian attack "put targets with no military purpose in the crosshairs," US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin told a non-NATO meeting to coordinate weapon supplies to Ukraine.

Dutch Defence Minister Kajsa Ollongren announced the delivery of more anti-aircraft missiles to Ukraine in response to the Russian attack.

"The only result Putin is achieving with this is that we are going to deliver even more," Ollongren said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand also pledged further military aid worth $50 million, including winter equipment such as boots, gloves as well as cameras for drones.

The alliance's 30 defence ministers discussed Ukraine's most urgent needs, with Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and more air defence is "the top priority," Stoltenberg said.

"We need to scale up to be able to help Ukraine defend even more cities and more territory against the horrific Russian attacks against their civilian populations," Stoltenberg said.

Stoltenberg also praised Germany's delivery to Ukraine of the Iris-T SLM air defence system to fend off future missile attacks.

The United States also held consultations of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group to coordinate arms deliveries. Nearly 50 countries attended, according to the US Defence Department.

As well as addressing NATO stockpiles, alliance defence ministers discussed recent alleged sabotage of gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

On Thursday, amid renewed nuclear threats from Putin, the alliance is to conduct talks on NATO's nuclear deterrence plans ahead of upcoming exercises.