Brussels (Brussels Morning) – NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels to commemorate 75 years, discuss the Ukraine crisis, and select the next Secretary-General, emphasizing long-term aid for Ukraine.
In Brussels, a two-day summit of NATO foreign ministers starts on Wednesday, celebrating the 75th anniversary of the signing of the Washington Treaty. The topics of conversation will include the war in Ukraine and the subject of the next Secretary-General.
Poland will be represented by Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. He and his NATO partners are also to discuss practices for the Alliance’s upcoming summit in Washington in July and the case of the successor to the current NATO Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg.
They will also accommodate Sweden, the 32nd member, which joined the Alliance on March 7th. The conference will also be an opportunity to examine Stoltenberg’s proposal to appoint a special fund for Ukraine for USD 100 billion.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will partake in the meeting, having reached Brussels from Paris. During his visit to the French capital, Blinken assembled with President Emmanuel Macron and Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu. He underlined that Ukraine is at a “critical moment,” and the delivery of weapons is “absolutely essential.”
Meanwhile, at a press briefing in Brussels on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith stated that the U.S. does not support either Ukraine bombarding targets in Russian territory or the opinion of sending Western soldiers “into the battlefield” in Ukraine. The option of sending ground troops to Ukraine had not been supervised earlier by President Macron.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will observe a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council on Thursday. There are also programs for meeting with partners from the Indo-Pacific region: Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and South Korea, committed to common security challenges.
On that day, ministers will celebrate the 75th anniversary of the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty. The ceremony will include addresses by Stoltenberg and some ministers, including Sikorski.
To celebrate the anniversary of the signing of the founding composition of NATO on April 4, 1949, the original North Atlantic Treaty, also comprehended as the Washington Treaty, was brought to Brussels from Washington. It will be on exhibit at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, the paper will return to Washington.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has expressed that alliance members must guarantee long-term weapon deliveries for Ukraine, as ministers examined a proposal for a 100-billion-euro ($107bn), five-year fund. Speaking before a gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Wednesday, Stoltenberg stated Kyiv had “urgent needs,” adding that “any delay in delivering support has consequences on the battlefield as we speak.”
“We must ensure reliable and predictable security aid to Ukraine for the long haul so that we rely less on the voluntary donations and more on NATO commitments, less on short-term offers and more on multiyear commitments,” he said.
Separately on Wednesday, Ukraine reduced the military conscription age from 27 to 25 as it aimed to refill its depleted ranks after more than two years of war. A shortage of infantry integrated with a severe ammunition shortfall has allowed hand Russian troops the initiative. “The reason why we do this is the position on the battlefield in Ukraine. It is serious,” Stoltenberg pointed reporters. “We see how Russia is moving, and we see how they try to win this war by just waiting us out.”
