There are fears that a lack of adequate support from the West could end up forcing Kyiv to seek a compromise with Russian President Vladimir Putin from a position of weakness.
"We just have to stay the course. This is also about our security interests," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers in Brussels.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the NATO talks were aimed at "strongly reaffirming our support for Ukraine as it continues to face Russia's war of aggression".
The United States has provided more than $40 billion in security aid to Ukraine since Russia's invasion and pledged to back Kyiv for as long as necessary.
But opposition from hardline Republicans has thrown into question the future of US assistance.
Stoltenberg said he was "confident" the United States would keep on arming Ukraine.
"It is in the security interest of the United States to do so and it's also in line with what we have agreed," Stoltenberg said.
Stoltenberg pointed to recent pledges from Germany and the Netherlands worth 10 billion euros ($11 billion) as proof that the alliance remained committed to backing Kyiv.
"Even though the frontline has not moved so much, the Ukrainians have been able to inflict heavy losses on the Russian forces," he said.
Concerns have ratcheted up over the future of Western backing for Ukraine as Kyiv's top general has admitted that the fierce fighting has reached a "stalemate".
The European Union is currently also struggling to agree a plan for its own long-term support for arming Ukraine in the face of opposition from Hungary.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in Brussels that he does "not feel any pressure" from Ukraine's backers to begin negotiations with Russia.
Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the necessity of supporting Ukraine was "not about whether Ukraine can still make any progress militarily, it's about saving people".
- 'Good strategy' -
Her French counterpart Catherine Colonna said that Kyiv was facing some of the heaviest air attacks since the start of the war.
"We are underscoring out support for Ukraine which must obviously last for the long-term," she said.
Latvian top diplomat Krisjanis Karins said Ukraine needs more "long-range missiles so that they can impede Russia's logistic capabilities".
Canada's Foreign Minister Melanie Joly pushed back against suggestions that Ukraine needs to change its strategy as the war drags towards a third year.
"We have a good strategy and Ukraine has a good strategy, but we need to implement it," she said.
Kuleba and his NATO counterparts on Wednesday are set to agree on a plan for reforms aimed at helping Ukraine towards eventual membership in the alliance.
Ukraine is pushing to join NATO, but the US-led alliance has so far refused to issue a formal invitation despite promising that Kyiv will be in its ranks one day.
EU ramps up funding for Ukraine military training
Brussels (AFP) Nov 28, 2023 -
The European Union on Tuesday agreed to more than quadruple its spending on training Ukrainian soldiers to battle Russia, investing close to an extra 200 million euros.
The 27-nation bloc has so far trained 34,000 Ukrainian personnel for the front line as Kyiv seeks to fight back Russia's invading forces.
That makes the EU the biggest provider of training for Ukraine's military as Kyiv desperately seeks to reconstitute its numbers in the face of heavy fighting.
The latest funding increased the amount from the EU's central European Peace Facility fund for the training by 194 million euros to 255 million in total, Brussels said in a statement.
Officials say they were aiming to reach 40,000 Ukrainian troops trained by the EU in the near future.
The announcement of additional funds for training Ukrainians comes as the EU is struggling to put together a larger package of longer-term support for Ukraine.
Hungary, Russia's closest ally in the EU, has threatened to hold up any talks at a summit in December on providing more military and financial aid to Ukraine or letting Kyiv open membership talks to join the bloc.
The EU says that together with member states the bloc has delivered some 27 billion euros in military support to Ukraine since Russia's invasion last year.
Related Links
Space War News
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
