NATO backs military aid for 'heroic' Ukraine, Russia steps up attacks

NATO backs military aid for 'heroic' Ukraine, Russia steps up attacks

NATO backs military aid for 'heroic' Ukraine, Russia steps up attacks

Madrid : NATO declared Russia as the ‘most significant and direct threat’ to its members’ peace and security, as the military alliance met on Wednesday to confront what NATO's chief called the biggest security crisis since World War II.

It also promised to “step up political and practical support” to Ukraine, as it fights off Russia’s invasion.

But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy chided NATO for not embracing his embattled country more fully and asked for more weapons to defeat Moscow’s forces.

We’re strong, united

The Madrid summit will send an unmistakable message...that NATO is strong and united. We’re stepping up. —Joe Biden, US President

Peace shattered

President Putin’s war against Ukraine has shattered peace in Europe and created the greatest security crisis in Europe since the WW II. —Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secy-Gen

Russia’s invasion of its neighbour shattered Europe’s peace, drove NATO to pour troops and weapons into eastern Europe on a scale not seen since the Cold War, and was set to give the defence organisation two new members in Sweden and Finland.

It promised more support for Ukraine, which has already received billions in military and civilian aid from NATO countries.

But Zelenskyy, by video link to the leaders of the 30 NATO nations, lamented that NATO's open-door policy to new members did not appear to apply to his country.

“The open-door policy of NATO shouldn't resemble the old turnstiles on Kyiv's subway, which stay open but close when you approach them until you pay,” he said.

He asked for more modern artillery systems and other weapons and warned leaders that they either had to provide Ukraine with the help it needed to defeat Russia or “face a delayed war between Russia and yourself.” — AP