NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the status of the war and needs of troops on Thursday, the day after Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Zelenskyy said that Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get NATO members to help provide additional air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s power plants and energy infrastructure that were badly damaged in relentless and deadly attacks by Russia last winter. He also reminded the secretary-general of the persistent drone, missile and artillery attacks that often strike residential areas and were blamed Thursday for at least three civilian deaths in the past day. “In the face of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, our ports, which are crucial for global food security, we need a corresponding intensity of pressure on Russia and a strengthening of our air defense,” Zelenskyy said. Stoltenberg said that NATO has contracts for 2.4 billion euros ($2.5 billion) in ammunition for Ukraine, including 155 mm Howitzer shells, anti-tank guided missiles and tank ammunition. “The stronger Ukraine becomes, the closer we come to ending Russia’s aggression,” Stoltenberg said. “Russia could lay down arms and end its war today. Ukraine doesn’t have that option. Ukraine’s surrender would not mean peace. It would mean brutal Russian occupation. Peace at any price would be no peace at all.” Ukraine has pushed to join NATO and Stoltenberg reiterated Thursday that Ukraine’s future is in the trans-Atlantic military alliance and that it would stand with Kyiv as long as it takes. The Kremlin views Ukraine’s potential membership in NATO as an existential threat, and Russia said that preventing Ukraine from joining the alliance is one of the reasons for its invasion. On Wednesday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova had said the attack on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Crimea had been coordinated with the help of U.S. and U.K. security agencies, and that NATO satellites and reconnaissance planes also played a role. Ukraine said without providing supporting evidence that the attack had killed 34 officers and wounded 105 others. But it also claimed to have killed the fleet’s commander, Adm. Viktor Sokolov, who was shown on Russian state television on Wednesday speaking with reporters in the Black Sea city of Sevastopol. Unconfirmed news reports said Storm Shadow missiles provided to Ukraine by the U.K. and France were used in the attack on the Russian navy installation. The U.K. Ministry of Defense, which in the past has declined to discuss intelligence-related matters, didn’t comment on Zakharova’s remarks. The meeting with Stoltenberg came on the same day that France’s defense minister met with Zelenskyy to discuss how to keep supplying weapons to the war effort. On Wednesday, the U.K. defense secretary reaffirmed the British government’s support and pledged to provide more ammunition as Ukraine’s counteroffensive plods forward toward the season when damp and cold weather could slow progress. French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu brought a delegation that included about 20 representatives from French defense contractors who manufacture drones, robots, artillery, ammunition and employ artificial intelligence and cybertechnology. Having donated air defense systems, artillery, armored vehicles and other weaponry and support to Ukraine, France is anxious not to deplete its own defenses. […]
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