NATO head Stoltenberg on whether delayed U.S. aid can still make a difference in Ukraine

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• John Yang:

  Among the Western leaders welcoming yesterday`s approval of Ukraine aid was sent NATO secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. He tweeted this makes us all safer in Europe and North America.

  Earlier I spoke with Stoltenberg from NATO headquarters in Brussels. I asked him about the difference the aid will make in the war.

• Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General, NATO:

  The U.S. decision that we saw on Saturday is big, it is important and it will make a difference on the ground. And I`m absolutely confident that the U.S. will be able to get support to the battlefield to the frontlines quickly, then, of course, the delay has had a consequence, because the Ukrainians have been totally outgunned.

  And we have seen also how Russian missiles, drones have been able to hit the more and more Ukrainian targets because the Ukrainians are too little elephants, and also to get the with announcements from other NATO allies. Germany and the Netherlands are stepping up and that will make a difference on the ground in the coming weeks on this.

• John Yang:

  You talked about the NATO allies in Europe? Have they been slow in getting going in your view? Are they doing enough?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  I think all allies can do more. But the reality is that if you look at the numbers Canada and European allies as a non-U.S. allies, they have, since the start of this war, provided roughly 50 percent, half of the total military support, which is substantial.

  And if you add then economic support Ukraine, humanitarian to support Ukraine, and on top of that, also the economic cost of hosting millions of Ukrainian refugees. The reality is that European allies are paying much higher economic price for the war in Ukraine than the United States.

  So this is burden sharing. We do this together. And that`s exactly what we should do.

• John Yang:

  On Friday, you`ve said we`re talking about Patriot missile batteries, which of course Ukraine has been asking for. They say they desperately need them. You said that there are some in in NATO allies in Europe that could be provided to them. Why haven`t those batteries already been set? Why have they been set before?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  So first of all, NATO allies have provided Patriot batteries, but also many other types of air defense systems and NATO Defense Ministers met on Friday together with the president Zelenskyy and made it very clear that we need to do even more.

  Germany has already announced an additional Patriot battery, or their allies I expect will announce in the coming days or at least soon. And we`re also now engaging with the defense industry, from the NATO side to make sure that they do whatever they can to ramp up production, but not only ramp up production new systems, but to ensure that we can refurbish all systems because this is not only about having the batteries. They also need the ammunition, the interceptors to the batteries. And we`re working on both batteries and on ammunition as fast as possible to get them over to Ukraine.

• John Yang:

  During the congressional debate yesterday, a number of opponents of this aid to Ukraine said this is a European problem, which also sort of tracks along with Donald Trump`s isolationism. What do you say to those people?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  It isn`t a security interest of the United States that Ukraine prevails. Because if President Putin wins in Ukraine, it will be a tragedy for the Ukrainians, but also send a clear message to President Putin that when he uses military force when they violate international law, he gets what he wants.

  And that will make the world more dangerous and all of us more vulnerable. So this is about our own security, military support. Ukraine is not charity, military support Ukraine is an investment in our own security, and is an investment in us security.

• John Yang:

  What`s your assessment of what the situation is on the ground? Right now, there was a lot of talk that this is the year that Ukraine could lose the war. What`s your assessment?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  It is a difficult situation partly caused by the delays in provision of ammunition and weapons from the United States. But today, I think we should just be glad and welcome the very important decision that was taken on Saturday.

  And as soon as this has passed the Senate and signed by the President, then the U.S. support will make a difference. Wars are by nature very unpredictable. But we need to be prepared for long haul. And therefore it is important that we are an hour also discussing not only short term support as a month by month, but also look into how we can establish more institutionalized NATO framework around the support to have more predictable, more robust support for the long term and long term funding that will send a message to President Putin that he cannot wait us out and that will increase the possibility for some kind of negotiated solution.

• John Yang:

  Would you support Ukraine striking inside Russia to pressure them and to raise the cost of Russia of waging this war?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  We have to remember that this is a war of aggression. One country attacks and other countries invade the country with battle tanks, with planes, with soldiers and according to international law the victim of aggression has the right to self-defense.

  And we have the right to support them without becoming party to the conflict. And the right to self-defense includes also right to strike legitimate military targets outside Ukraine. It`s not for NATO to design. But the reality is that Ukraine has the right to defend themselves. And that includes also destroying military targets outside Ukraine.

• John Yang:

  Do they have the capability to do that?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  We have seen that they have been quite capable of conducting deep strikes against different Russian military capabilities behind the alliance. And in particular, they have been able to sink a large number of Russian ships combat vessels in the Black Sea. So the principal able to open a corridor in the Black Sea and to ship out grain.

  Again, we need to remember where this war started back in February 2022. Most experts feared that Ukraine would collapse within weeks and key within days, that didn`t happen. Ukrainians are liberated 50 percent of the land that was occupied by Russia and the beginning. They have conducted deep strikes and destroyed significant amount of Russian combat capabilities. And they have opened up a corridor in the Black Sea. So the Ukrainians have the skills, the commitment to prevail, we need to provide the military equipment to them.

• John Yang:

  President Zelenskyy was on the NewsHour last week, and he talked a lot about the role that Russian propaganda has played in this congressional fight. There are a number of NATO allies who have important elections this year, not just the United States.

  How big a threat is the possibility of this sort of Russian meddling in those elections? And what can NATO do about that?

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  We need to be very much aware of the risk of disinformation, Russian attempts to meddle to manipulate political processes in our countries. But I actually believe that the best way to counter this information is the truth, the truth will prevail, but to ensure that we need a free and independent press journalists who are doing their job checking their sources.

  In democracies, there will be different views. There will be discussions, there will be different opinions. But as long as we have an open debate with a free and independent press, I`m quite certain that democracies will be resilient against an attempt from authoritarian powers like Russia to undermine our democratic institutions.

• John Yang:

  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, thank you very much for your time.

• Jens Stoltenberg:

  Thanks so much for having me.