NATO could have equipped Ukraine more to try to stop Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
That is what the outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg thinks.
– Now we provide military equipment for a war – then we could have provided military equipment to prevent the war, he says to Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
In an interview with the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung says outgoing NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg that more could have been done to support Ukraine, before Russia’s full-scale invasion.
– I regret that NATO’s allies and NATO itself did not do more to strengthen Ukraine earlier. If Ukraine had been militarily stronger, the threshold for Russia to attack would have been higher. It is impossible to say whether it would have been high enough.
During Stoltenberg’s first trip to Ukraine in 2015, he visited the training center where the US, Canada and the UK trained soldiers. But NATO did not.
– Overall, our training and equipment was quite limited. We could have done a lot more.
Didn’t want to give weapons to Ukraine at first
Stoltenberg also talks about a reluctance to give Kiev the weapons they asked for before Russia’s invasion, because they were afraid to further increase tensions with Russia. He believes that even if it was not possible for Ukraine to join NATO, it would have been possible to strengthen them militarily.
– It would have been easy to strengthen Ukraine militarily. Instead, we argued over whether to equip them with sniper rifles. For a long time, the United States did not want to supply Ukraine with anti-tank missiles in order not to provoke Russia. In the end they delivered some, but we could all have done more.
He continues:
– Now we provide military equipment for a war – then we could have provided military equipment to prevent the war.
The war must be ended by negotiations
In order for the war to end, negotiations with Russia will be required, the NATO chief believes.
But that negotiation must take place in combination with defense and deterrence.
– One thing is clear: in order to end this war, at a certain point there must be a dialogue with Russia again. But this must be based on Ukrainian strength.