March 24 (UPI) — Ahead of an extraordinary NATO summit on Thursday, the military alliance’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said they will seek to increase their defensive capabilities in Eastern Europe to protect countries neighboring war-besieged Ukraine.
Stoltenberg told reporters Thursday morning in Brussels ahead of the summit that NATO’s core mission is to defend its allies and it will do so by establishing four new battlegroups in Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary and Slovakia.
Countries, he said, will also need to provide further funding to defense.
“We need to do more, and therefore we need to invest more,” he said. “There is a new sense of urgency and I expect that the leaders will agree to accelerate the investments in defense to meet the pledge we have made to invest more in defense.”
The meeting is being held on the one month anniversary since Russia invaded Ukraine, starting a war that has resulted in the deaths of nearly 1,000 Ukrainian civilians while another 3.6 million have fled the country, according to United Nations’ data.
U.S. President Joe Biden landed in Belgium the night prior, and will begin his Europe trip with attending the NATO summit as he looks to further align efforts with allies on addressing Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said Thursday’s summit was occurring as they face “the most serious security crisis in a generation.”
“The meeting today will demonstrate the importance of North America and Europe standing together facing this crisis,” he said. “We are the strongest alliance in the world. And as long as we stand together, we are also safe.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to virtually address the NATO leaders during the summit as he has other governments since the war began.
Zelensky has been calling for a no-fly zone to be established over Ukrainian airspace, but NATO and Biden have so far rejected it out of concerns it would escalate a war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Stoltenberg said they are supplying Ukraine with advanced air defense systems, anti-tank weapons, ammunition and fuel but that NATO will not send troops on the ground or planes in the air.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that this conflict does not escalate beyond Ukraine,” he said, stating if that were to happen there would be even more death and destruction. “And to declare a no-fly zone means that we need to massively attack Russian air defense systems in Russia, in Belarus and in Ukraine, and also be ready to shoot down Russian planes.
“And then the risk of a full-fledge war between NATO and Russia will be very high,” he said.
Stoltenberg said the day prior world leaders at the NATO summit will make decisions that will have “far-reaching implications,” including strengthening NATO’s posture in all domains, including land, sea, air and space, as well as providing additional support to Ukraine and other partners at risk of Russia.
On Wednesday, national security advisor Jake Sullivan officials told reporters en route to Brussels that Biden was expected to meet with Stoltenberg Thursday morning prior to the summit to “get on the same page in terms of the agenda.”
He said NATO as an institution has not been involved in coordinating security assistance to Ukraine, which has fallen to individual member states.
During the summit, which is expected to last about several hours, the topic of discussion will be continuing support for Ukraine so it can defend itself, he said.
Biden will then meet with Group of Seven leaders, which are expected to issue a statement that will cover a range of issues, but with a “centra locus” on sanctions, he said.
The package, he said, will focus on enforcement of sanctions already in place and punitive measures for nations that attempt to aid Russia with evading them.
Meanwhile, the United States will also announce a package of designations related to political figures, oligarchs and entities, he said.
