The Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, said today (25) that the advance of Russian army troops towards Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, aims to remove the democratically elected president and change the government in Ukraine.
“The Russian people have to know that the war against Ukraine will not make Russia safer nor will it make the country more respected in the world,” said Stoltenberg, who reaffirmed NATO’s full support for Ukraine.
The secretary general of the military alliance also said that Russia and Belarus will have to pay for their actions. “Russia as an invader and Belarus as an enabler”. Belarus shares a northern border with Ukraine and Russian missiles and tanks have invaded Ukraine from Belarus.
Stoltenberg said that NATO has strengthened its defense capabilities, activated its allies’ defense plans and deployed response force elements to sea, land and air. “The United States, Canada and European allies have already deployed thousands of troops to the eastern part of the alliance.”
Stoltenberg believes that the Russian president’s decision to carry out the aggression against Ukraine is a terrible mistake from a strategic point of view and that Russia will pay a heavy price in the coming years. “NATO and the European Union have already adopted significant sanctions and our partners around the world are joining us,” he said.
The NATO representative also said that Ukrainian forces are fighting courageously and causing losses on the Russian side.
He further bolstered NATO’s military, financial and cyber defense support for Ukraine.
