NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that the military bloc will soon send Ukraine air defense systems and ammunition.
The alliance has mapped out existing capabilities across its members and determined that there are systems that can be made available to Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after a NATO-Ukraine Council virtual meeting at the defense ministers level.
"NATO defense ministers have agreed to step up and provide further military support, including more air defense. So I expect new announcements on air defense capabilities for Ukraine soon," he said.
Apart from Patriot missiles, there are other weapons that the NATO allies can provide, including SAMP/Ts, according to Stoltenberg.
He also underscored that the defense ministers addressed other urgent needs of Ukraine, including 155 mm ammunition, deep precision strike capabilities, and drones.
"Each NATO ally will decide what to provide. Several allies made concrete commitments during the meeting and are finalizing contributions that I expect will be announced soon," Stoltenberg said.
"Allies must dig deep into their inventories and speed up the delivery of missiles, artillery and ammunition. Ukraine is using the weapons we provide to destroy Russian combat capabilities. This makes us all safer," he said.
"Support to Ukraine is not charity. It is an investment in our own security," Stoltenberg added.
He also welcomed the U.S. Congress's move toward a Saturday vote on a long-delayed aid package for Ukraine, saying, "I count on the bill to pass without further delay."
Russia's air force is vastly more powerful than Ukraine's, but sophisticated missile systems provided by Kyiv's Western partners are a significant threat to Russian aviation as the Kremlin's forces slowly push forward along the around 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line in the war.
Kyiv is seeking at least seven Patriot batteries. Stoltenberg declined to say which NATO nations have air defense systems or how many might be available, saying that this is classified information, but he insisted that he expects the countries to make new announcements of support soon, not only Patriots.
Patriot missile batteries can take two years to make, so countries that have them can be reluctant, for security reasons, to leave themselves exposed. Germany has 12 but is supplying three to Ukraine. Poland, which borders Ukraine, has only two and needs them for its own defenses.
Greece, the Netherlands, Romania, and Spain also have Patriots. Besides their effectiveness, one major advantage of providing the U.S.-made systems is that Ukrainian troops are already trained in their use.
NATO tracks the stocks of weapons held by its 32 member countries to ensure that they can execute the organization's defense plans in times of need.
But Stoltenberg said that dropping below the guidelines is "the only way NATO allies can provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to defend themselves, well that's a risk we have to take."
Beyond providing new Patriot batteries, Stoltenberg said that the allies should also ensure that the batteries they send are well maintained, have spare parts and have plenty of interceptor missiles.
Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy repeated Kyiv's almost daily appeals for more Western air defense equipment.
He said the alliance should decide "whether we indeed are allies," more than two years into Russia's invasion and as Washington could be about to unlock vital U.S. aid.
"Our sky must become safe again," Zelenskyy said. And it depends fully on your choice: whether life is indeed equally valuable everywhere, whether you have an equal attitude to all partners and whether we are indeed allies."
