The NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has said Ukraine is proving that the Russian war machine is not unstoppable, vowing to use a meeting of Kyiv’s military backers to press allies to keep up the flow of weapons and aid, the alliance has said.
Speaking in Brussels on Wednesday, ahead of a NATO defence ministers’ meeting the following day, Rutte said that with “Russia’s war in its fifth year”, providing support to Ukraine “remains a priority”. Ukraine, he said, was “demonstrating that the Russian war machine is not unstoppable” and was “shifting the dynamics on the battlefield”.
Together, allies had given “billions in artillery, and ammunition and aid”, Rutte said, “but it is crucial to continue this support to help Ukraine maintain its advantage”. That, he said, would be his message at the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.
The Ukraine Defence Contact Group, co-chaired by Germany and the United Kingdom, is the multinational forum through which Kyiv’s partners coordinate military aid, and it is due to meet in the afternoon on the day of the ministerial at NATO headquarters. The forum has become the central mechanism for organising the weapons, ammunition and training that have sustained Ukraine’s resistance, and the British and German co-chairmanship places London at the heart of that effort.
Rutte’s assessment reflects a battlefield in which Ukrainian forces have continued to inflict heavy costs on Russia despite relentless pressure, including through the explosion of cheap drones and increasingly autonomous systems that have reshaped the fighting. The United Kingdom has been a significant contributor, including through its largest-ever drone package for Ukraine, set to deliver at least 120,000 drones this year, much of it spent with British firms.
There does seem a number (albeit small, so far) of prominent people within Russia warning of the continued cost to the economy financially and in manpower. The top echelon still seem pretty entrenched in their views/aims. I wonder how far Putin and his cohorts can push their population and military before it revolts?
A lot more l think.
Russian’s have leant over time to not challenge their leadership out of fear.
That said if they are pushed too far they will act.
The pressure builds.
All Russia needs to do is withdraw from Ukraine.
Russia, as a friendly nation, has a lot to offer the world.
The fact people in the public eye are actually coming out and talking about it in public is a surprise to me, it’s not that long ago where even the sniff of decent brought you a one way ticket out of a open window. Personally I think the next few months could prove very interesting. It could well be the regime come out even harder to stamp out any decent, but it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if something major were to occur politically.