Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky requested more aid for his fight against Russia from over 50 defense leaders gathered at the NATO headquarters today.
The visit was a surprise, but the leaders had already planned to discuss aid for Ukraine at the Brussels location. The name of group of leaders that met is the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, and it is hosted by the United States.
Zelensky has condemned Hamas, and is sympathetic with the fact that the United States and other NATO allies will be preoccupied with aiding Israel in their fight against the Islamist militant group. But he is concerned that the outbreak of war in the Middle East will detract from his own country’s funding.
There is a “very understandable volume” in the amount of aid that the U.S. and Europe can provide, he said. He has questioned it himself as to whether the Israel conflict will divert supplies to his own cause, but he is still assuming that western powers can continue funding Ukraine. “Of course, everybody’s afraid, and I think also Russia’s counting on it, on dividing support,” he added at a press conference with Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine made a surprise visit to NATO headquarters, as officials representing members of the military alliance gathered to consider more aid to Ukraine.https://t.co/XdBempA44K
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 11, 2023
Zelensky said Ukrainians understand how tragic the attack on Israel is, but quickly reminded his captive audience that Ukraine needs more missiles and air defense supplies “to push Russia out of our land.”
“Next Monday, we will mark the 600th day of our resistance to Russia’s full scale aggression against our people, against Ukraine. And today, no one can say for sure how many more days we will have to defend our independence and to defend our identity,” Zelenskyy told the leaders. “But we can already say several things which I think are important. First, Putin will not achieve Ukraine. Second, Russia cannot afford a new arms race. And third, democracy can win this battle.”
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However, officials and experts at the meeting said they do not expect Ukraine’s aid to be hampered in the short-term. They say that Ukraine and Israel are using different kinds of air defense systems, and so Western powers can keep giving Ukraine the weapons and munitions they have been supplying without interruption—at least in this early stage of the Israel-Palestine conflict.
This morning, prior to Zelensky’s request, Britain and Germany announced new military assistant packages for Ukraine. U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the press that the support to Ukraine will continue. “The energy, in my view, is still there,” said Austin. “And I will reassure them that we remain committed to this.” So far, the United States has given roughly $135 billion to aid Ukraine.
Some critics are wary about continuing to give aid to Ukraine. They view it as provoking an unnecessary global war that will be even more costly than the high costs the Russo-Ukraine conflict is imposing on NATO allies. Read our previous report on NATO or watch Patrick Bet-David highlight some of the pitfalls of NATO and western countries intervening in foreign conflicts here:
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