NATO defense ministers discussed boosting support for Ukraine and replenishing allies' depleted military stockpiles as they meet in Brussels starting on Wednesday. "The message from NATO allies will be that we are steadfast in our support for Ukraine and that we are prepared for the long haul," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters upon arrival. "We will discuss, address how to ramp up support for Ukraine," he said, stressing that "the top priority will be more air defense for Ukraine." "We need different types of air defense, short-range, long-range air defense systems to take (out) ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, different systems for different tasks," he added. Russia targeted critical Ukraine's civilian infrastructure with a deadly wave of missile attacks, including in downtown Kiev, on Monday, in retaliation for an explosion that damaged a bridge linking Russia to the illegally annexed peninsula of Crimea. The missile attacks have been widely condemned by Western allies as war crimes. Ukrainian forces are believed to have successfully knocked down a significant amount of the missiles that came their way but the attacks have seen them reiterate calls for more air defense assistance from allies. Germany has already delivered four IRIS-Ts air defense systems while the US has pledged to send NASAMS systems. Other NATO members are expected to make similar announcements over the two-day summit. Lethal weapons, artillery, armored vehicles, and other anti-tank weapons are also on Ukraine's wish list, in particular mounted rocket launchers such as the 18 CAESAR self-propelled howitzers it has received from France or the HIMARS from the US which have been key to its recapture of territories from Russia. Kiev is also calling for allies to provide fuel, communication systems and winter equipment including clothing. Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine's defense minister, who is participating in the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group said he is "feeling optimistic." Also on the agenda will be the alliance's own stocks. "NATO recently held a meeting of armaments directors to come together and talk about ways that they could jointly address those declining stockpiles and ensure that production can be ramped up to meet the requirements not only of the Ukrainian forces that are fighting so courageously on the ground, but also of specific NATO allies," US ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith told Euronews on Tuesday evening. "So this will be a focus of our work this fall well into the winter to see what we can do to close those gaps," she added. Standardization and interoperability — meaning ensuring the various kind of new equipment from the different allies can work together — will be a key focus for ministers. They will also discuss protecting critical infrastructure after the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines late last month as well as the suspected sabotage of a German radio network last week. "We have doubled our presence in the Baltic and North Seas to over 30 ships" that are "supported by maritime patrol aircraft and undersea capabilities," Stoltenberg said. But as most infrastructure is owned by private operators, ministers will need to start thinking about how best to assist them, boost surveillance and make better use of deterrence capabilities. Nuclear deterrence will also be high on the agenda as NATO allies prepare to take part in their annual "Steadfast Noon" exercise next week despite the repeated nuclear threats from Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Nuclear deterrence is a key feature of NATO's defense and deterrence posture. As such, the allies do conduct these types of exercises on a regular basis. And so this is not out of cycle. It is not in response to what's happening in Ukraine. "This is something that NATO's would be doing irrespective of what's happening on the ground inside Ukraine," Smith said. "What we know is that there's a lot of loose talk right now about the use of Russia's nuclear arsenal. We obviously find this kind of talk deeply disturbing and dangerous," she said. She added that they had informed the Russians "quite directly that any use of nuclear weapons would be faced with unprecedented consequences." The drills which involve training flights with dual-capable fighter jets, as well as conventional jets, backed by surveillance and refueling aircraft, are intended to ensure that NATO's nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective. France, the UK and the US are the only NATO members to have nuclear weapons and some 100 US nuclear warheads are estimated to be stored across Europe, and thought to be in Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey. France also announced on Tuesday that it was upping its deterrence contribution on the alliance's eastern flank. The country will add 200 troops to the 500 it has already deployed to Romania where it leads a multinational battlegroup as well as armored fighting vehicles including tanks. Rafale fighter jets will be deployed to Lithuania to patrol while a light infantry company is to be dispatched to Estonia. Romania President Klaus Iohannis described the announcement as "an important gesture for NATO's Eastern flank, a sign of solidarity between the Allies", while his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nausėda, said it represents "a strong signal of unity & solidarity against Russian aggression in Ukraine." — Euronews
