Russia-Ukraine conflict: NATO ready to maintain support for Ukraine for years

While Ukraine is not a NATO member country, the nations under the alliance have been assisting Ukraine in the war waged by Russia, The alliance’s secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg announced that NATO is prepared to support Kyiv for years in its war against Russia.

Reuters reports Stoltenberg announced Thursday that the NATO alliance is ready to support Ukraine in its war against Russia. The support includes helping Kyiv shift from Soviet-era weapons to a modern Western arsenal and systems. Stoltenberg’s announcement follows the Kremlin’s warning that Western countries sending supplies to Ukraine was a threat to the security of Europe while provoking instability in the region.

“We need to be prepared for the long term,” said Stoltenberg during a youth summit in Brussels. “There is absolutely a possibility that this war will drag on and last for months and years.”

“NATO allies are preparing to provide support over a long period of time and also help Ukraine to transit, move from old Soviet-era equipment to more modern NATO-standard weapons and systems that will also require more training,” said the NATO chief.

Stoltenberg also said that the West will continue to increase its pressure on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to put an end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine through sets of sanctions while sending economic and military aid to Kyiv. Moscow claims the invasion is a “special military operation.”

Most arms and military equipment countries that were sent to Ukraine are still Soviet-era arms in the inventories of eastern European NATO member countries, but the US and other Western allies have already supplied Kyiv with Western howitzers.

At the same time, the US Congress passed legislation that will make it easier to send more military equipment to Ukraine, which revives a World War II-era US weapons financing program. The US House of Representatives almost unanimously approved the legislation titled “Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act of 2022,” which will be sent to the desk of President Joe Biden for his signature. The bill was passed unanimously by the Senate.

The World War II-era weapons program allowed Washington to lend or lease military equipment to the UK and other allies for a small price. The new proposal will help Ukraine as it fights back against Russia, as well as help Poland and other countries in eastern Europe.