Leaders of NATO and the European Union have reaffirmed their dedication to helping Ukraine with military assistance to fend off Russia’s almost one-year invasion, including cutting-edge air defenses and other tools, VOA reports.
Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, told reporters on Tuesday that she believes Ukraine should be provided with all the military hardware required for self-defense because they also uphold the fundamental tenets of the United Nations Charter, human rights, and international law.
After a meeting in Brussels, von der Leyen, Charles Michel, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressed their support for the recent announcements by the US, Germany, and France on plans to supply Ukraine with new types of armor and armored vehicles.
Stoltenberg emphasized the necessity to continue putting an emphasis on training, upkeep, and ammunition for the current systems that partners have already supplied to Ukraine’s military.
“NATO allies and EU members have depleted their stocks to provide support to Ukraine, and that has been the right thing to do because this is also about our security, and of course, we need to use our capabilities, our stocks, our ammunition, to support Ukraine,” the Secretary-General said.
The Russian military has suffered setbacks, but President Vladimir Putin has not shown any signs of altering “the overarching purpose of his ruthless assault against Ukraine,” according to Stoltenberg, who stressed that Russia should not be underestimated.
In the meantime, the British defense ministry said on Tuesday that Russian and mercenary troops were “probably now in control” of the majority of Soledar, a tiny town in eastern Ukraine known for its salt mines, which is situated in one of the locations of the worst fighting.
Heavy losses have been sustained by both sides in the battle for Soledar.
The damage in Soledar was characterized as “almost no whole walls left” by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his nighttime speech on Monday.
The Russian military’s primary objective in Ukraine is presumably Bakhmut, which is around 10 kilometers from Soledar, according to the British Defense Ministry’s most recent daily assessment.
The combat in Bakhmut was described as “very brutal” by a senior U.S. military officer who talked to reporters on Monday on the condition of anonymity.
