NATO increases military support to Ukraine, Zelensky wants more

The representatives of the 32 NATO member states approved yesterday a substantial package of military support for Ukraine, a package that provides, among other things, the sending of 5 Patriot systems, a SAMP-T system, dozens of tactical air defense systems, including NASAMS, HAWKs , IRIS T-SLM, IRIS T-SLS and Gepard systems. However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said it was not enough and that the allies needed to deliver the F1-6 fighter jets promised last year to Kiev authorities faster and not wait until autumn when things could change in terms of political view within the American Presidential Administration. However, if last fall the allies promised to donate approximately 70 F-16 planes to Ukraine, now the leader from Kiev believes that those combat machines are not enough and wants a fleet of 128 F-16s. This in the conditions where Romania has four times less, and the Ukrainian pilots are still in the training period to be able to handle the respective combat machines, the training period having already been shortened to a maximum of six months by the NATO member states that are part from the Ukrainian F-16 pilot training program.

Virtually ignoring the new military support package offered by NATO, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said: "The problem with the F-16 is quantity and timing, but let's be honest, Russia uses 300 planes against Ukraine every day. We had a decision regarding 10-20 (ed. - F-16 planes that would be sent to Ukraine). Even if they want 50 (ed. - their number has increased to 70), it will be nothing, we defend ourselves, but we need 128, this is the fleet. Until we have 128 planes, we will not be able to compete with Russia in the air; it will be hard".

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said yesterday that Denmark and the Netherlands have begun transferring F-16s to Ukraine and that the aircraft will be in Ukrainian airspace, ready for combat, as early as this summer.

Despite Zelenski's statements, at the opening of yesterday's NATO summit meeting in Washington, Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of the Alliance, said that the package of military support for Ukraine consists of five elements.

Jens Stoltenberg stated: "One is a NATO Command for Ukraine to provide security assistance and training. Then a long-term commitment to continue and sustain our support for Ukraine will be initialed and we will provide immediate military support, including air defense. (...) Fourthly, we will intensify the necessary actions to ensure full interoperability between Ukrainian forces and NATO forces, and finally we will have a new aviation and training center in Poland. All five elements constitute a strong bridge for Ukraine to join the Alliance. On deterrence and defence, we will ensure that we have the forces to meet the requirements of our ambitious new defense plans. We already have 500,000 troops who can be deployed on the Eastern Flank if needed, the largest military force in decades. We will also integrate a new ballistic defense system in Poland".

As for the annual support commitment, it would be an annual allocation of 40 billion euros from NATO for Ukraine, from which Hungary would be exempted, according to official sources cited by Politico.eu.

Moreover, Jens Stoltenberg also mentioned the NATO Support and Procurement Agency, which deals with the joint procurement of armaments and military equipment for the member states of the Alliance. NATO's secretary general noted that in 2023 the agency concluded contracts worth more than $11 billion for ammunition and military capabilities, and recently signed contracts worth nearly $700 million for the joint purchase of Stinger missiles.

It is certain that after the NATO summit, Ukraine will have five new Patriot systems - one of which was donated by Romania, following the meeting of the Supreme National Defense Council on June 20 -, and a SAMP-T system, which will

help protect Ukrainian cities, civilians and soldiers.

• Klaus Iohannis: "Our desire is to receive another Patriot system in exchange in the relatively near future"

Regarding the Patriot system donated by our country to Ukraine, President Klaus Iohannis declared, yesterday, from Washington: "Our claim is that then when we donate high-capacity systems like Patriot to be reasonably compensated and these things are being negotiated with the American partner and the first progress has already been achieved. In CSAT we discussed this matter in extenso and we gave a mandate to the Ministry of National Defense and Minister Angel Tîlvăr is here and negotiating, and our wish is to receive another Patriot system in exchange in the relatively near future. But to compensate for the absence of the Patriot system donated now, I think we will get other defense systems faster, which will provide surveillance, better monitoring of the airspace".

President Klaus Iohannis also mentioned that at the moment the American and NATO bases in our country are in an extensive process of joining and expanding, that the number of allied troops stationed in Romania is constantly increasing, and this is aimed at strengthening NATO's Eastern Flank and of the defense and deterrence posture in the Black Sea region.

His Lordship also said that the final declaration of the summit to be published today will contain a passage in which the Allies express their solidarity with NATO member states affected by the violation of airspace by Russia and which will mention the adoption of air defense actions on the Eastern Flank for to counteract the fall of Russian drones on the territory of our country.

Moreover, President Iohannis also said that Romania will join a military mobility corridor with Bulgaria and Greece, a corridor initiated by our country and that we want to create and host with Bulgaria a regional command for special forces that will be made available NATO.

• The new British Prime Minister gives the green light to the use of British missiles on the territory of the Russian Federation

In terms of support to Ukraine, in the coming months the US and other NATO member states will provide dozens of tactical air defense systems aimed at expanding and strengthening Ukraine's air defenses. Moreover, the US would deliver hundreds of critical air defense interceptors to Ukraine more quickly, based on agreements with NATO member states that would have benefited from these interceptors following purchase agreements concluded with the US government.

Apart from these systems, the new Prime Minister of Great Britain, Keir Starmer, would have declared, according to sources cited by Bloomberg, that Ukraine can use the British Storm Shadow missiles to hit targets in Russia. Starmer said it was up to Ukraine how it uses UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles. He said the missiles should obviously be "used in accordance with international humanitarian law" for defensive purposes.

However, the new British Prime Minister specified: "However, it is up to Ukraine to decide how to deploy Storm Shadow missiles for these defensive purposes."

Basically, Keir Starmer's statement echoes the position of his predecessor Rishi Sunak, who, although he never explicitly authorized Ukraine to use Storm Shadow missiles to strike Russian territory, emphasized that it was Kiev's right to decide on their use. This position has previously been labeled as "very dangerous" by the Kremlin.

Regarding the statements of the new British Prime Minister, Dmitri Peskov - the spokesman of the Kremlin - stated yesterday that the Russian Federation will provide a suitable response to Great Britain, if the Storm Shadow missiles supplied to Ukraine hit targets located on Russian territory.