NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg told Ukrainians on Monday that his alliance’s members had failed to live up to their promises of military aid in recent months, but said the flow of arms and ammunition would now increase, Reuters reports.
In an unannounced visit to Ukraine, the secretary general of the transatlantic military alliance held talks with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and was due to address Ukraine’s parliament, the Rada.
“I will also be very honest with President Zelenskiy and also with the Rada that NATO allies have not delivered what we have promised over the last months,” Stoltenberg said on the train taking him into Kyiv on Monday.
Stoltenberg pointed to the U.S. Congress now having approved a Ukraine aid package worth more than $60 billion, swiftly signed into law by President Joe Biden, and an announcement last week by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of a “record high” commitment to Kyiv.
"This will make a difference – as the lack of support made a difference,” he said, alluding to Ukrainian setbacks on the battlefield.
He said the Russians had paid "a high price for marginal territorial gains" and Ukraine could still turn things around.
"It's not too late for Ukraine to prevail. But that’s why it's so urgent that NATO allies now actually do what we had promised and that we turn those commitments into real deliveries of weapons and ammunition and I’m now confident that will now happen.”
