Stoltenberg: When war ends, Ukraine must receive safeguards against new Russian attack

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this at a press conference in Brussels on Friday, when asked by an Ukrinform correspondent whether security guarantees for Ukraine could be discussed at the NATO summit in Vilnius.

"When the war ends, then it is important, of course, that we have the frameworks in place to ensure that Russia, President Putin, not only rests his forces, retrains them, reallocates them, rearm them and then re-attack at the later stage. That is actually a lasting and enduring peace. And to ensure that, we need frameworks in place to provide Ukraine with what they need to ensure that Russia is not going to attack again," Stoltenberg said.

According to him, military support for Ukraine is the most urgent task for Allies. The more land Ukraine is able to liberate, the stronger their hand will eventually be at the negotiating table in order to find a peaceful, during and just end to this war, he said.

"And that's exactly what Allies are discussing, that's part of the discussion on the membership issue within NATO. And as I said, I'm confident that we'll find a united way forward as NATO Allies on Ukraine's request for membership. We will also, I expect, make some concrete decisions on interoperability and all the things that will help Ukraine to move closer to NATO," Stoltenberg said.

He noted that several Allies are conducting bilateral and some multilateral consultations with Ukraine on different types of security arrangements. NATO Allies have been briefed about them and it will just complement and underpin the efforts of NATO answer as an Alliance, he said.

"The message is, of course, that we take our decisions as sovereign independent nations together with Ukraine. So it's not for Russia to make any decisions, to have any veto. And again, we help Ukraine to win this war by providing military support and we'll continue to do that," Stoltenberg said.