NATO defense ministers Wednesday discussed ways to bolster Ukraine’s air defense systems to combat the barrage of missiles Russia has been launching this week on targets throughout Ukraine.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters the talks in Brussels are focusing on ramping up support for Ukraine. He said it is a “pivotal moment for our security” with the scope of the Russian assault “the most serious escalation of the war since the invasion in February.”
More than 100 missile attacks have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday.
Stoltenberg said NATO allies are sending the message to Kyiv that they are ready to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that while Russian President Vladimir Putin “tries to force untrained, unwitting Russian civilians to the front lines” through the conscription of 300,000 reservists, “Ukraine has shown the world that the military and military power of a free people fighting for their democracy and their sovereignty prevails.”
“Their courage inspires us all,” Austin said. “Putin chose war. But Ukraine chose to defend itself. And it has done so magnificently.”
Putin has said Russia’s missile attacks this week on cities throughout Ukraine, including the capital, Kyiv, came in direct response to the truck bombing last Saturday that destroyed part of the strategic Kerch Bridge linking mainland Russia with the Crimean Peninsula. Russia seized the peninsula in 2014.
On Wednesday, Moscow’s FSB security service announced it has arrested eight people, including five Russians, linked to the incident. It said three Ukrainians and Armenians helped carry out the attack.
The FSB statement accused Ukraine’s military intelligence service of launching the attack, what it characterized as a “terrorist act.” The FSB blamed it on explosives hidden in the back of a cargo truck that was detonated on the bridge.
The FSB contended that a 22-ton bomb deployed in the attack was shipped from the Ukrainian port of Odesa before following a circuitous route through Bulgaria, Armenia and Georgia.
Ukrainian officials have strongly signaled they carried out the attack but not officially claimed responsibility. Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs called the Russian investigation “nonsense.”
Leaders of the Group of Seven major industrial nations, meeting Tuesday in a crisis video conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, pledged that they “will stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
The G-7 leaders said in a statement that they had reassured Zelenskyy they are “undeterred and steadfast in our commitment to providing the support Ukraine needs to uphold its sovereignty and territorial integrity.” They said Moscow’s “indiscriminate attacks on innocent civilian populations constitute a war crime.”
“We will hold President [Vladimir] Putin and those responsible to account,” the G-7 leaders said. The G-7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Amid Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons, the G-7 reiterated it would direct “severe consequences” should Moscow use weapons of mass destruction but did not imply direct military involvement in Ukraine.
U.S. officials have said they have not seen indications that Putin has decided to use nuclear weapons and underscored that there is no change in the U.S. nuclear posture.
John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters the U.S. is not considering deploying tactical nuclear weapons — smaller and less destructive than strategic nuclear weapons — in Ukraine.
“There's absolutely zero interest from our side and from our allies and partners to see this war escalate into the use of the weapons of mass destruction at all,” he said.
Russia is estimated to have 2,000 tactical nuclear weapons, including some so small and portable that they are referred to as “suitcase bombs.”
VOA White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some information came from Reuters and AP.
