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President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine made a surprise visit to NATO headquarters on Wednesday, urging the military alliance to keep its weapons flowing to his country for its war against Russia, even as much of the West turns its attention to the brutal outbreak of violence in Israel.
Senior NATO officials attempted to reassure Zelensky, promising more than $2 billion in additional military aid to be delivered before winter hits Ukraine.
“Their fight is our fight, their security is our security and their values are our values,” Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, said at the start of two days of meetings between the alliance’s defense chiefs. “And we will support Ukraine for as long as necessary.”
But Zelensky later said that “of course, everyone is afraid” that Western aid will decrease as the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues.
“Who knows what it will be like,” Zelensky said in an appearance with Belgium’s prime minister after meeting with senior defense officials from NATO members. “I don’t think anyone knows.”
Zelensky’s visit to the military alliance’s headquarters in Brussels was a stark reminder of the 19-month conflict on NATO’s doorstep, amid concerns that the war in Israel, which broke out last weekend, could eventually divert resources from Ukraine.
An initial package of weapons sent directly from the United States arrived in Israel on Wednesday morning, according to a video posted on x by the Israeli Ministry of Defense.
Zelensky said he was counting on Ukraine’s strong relations with the United States and the European Union to ensure assistance to his country continued. Still, he urged nations to support the Israeli people and compared the Hamas attack to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Senior NATO officials acknowledged privately that Ukraine might have cause for concern, given the violence in Israel and the budget fight in the US Congress that threatens US war funding. At least some of the U.S. arms flow could dry up within months if the money is not approved quickly, according to a senior U.S. official who spoke to reporters in Brussels on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal debate more candidly.
But the U.S. official and other experts also said a diversion of weapons to Israel at Ukraine’s expense is not expected in the near future, as the two countries use different types of air defenses to protect their respective territories.
And at least eight NATO states pledged additional reinforcements – including air defense systems, 155-millimeter munitions and tanks – to quickly reach Ukraine as two days of meetings between the alliance’s defense ministers began.
At NATO, Zelensky said he was counting on the West to supply more air defenses, long-range missiles and artillery to help his country “survive the coming winter.”
He also repeated his claim that Russian President Vladimir V. Putin seeks to foment chaos and conflict in the Middle East to undermine support for Kiev, noting that Moscow still has enough weapons, personnel and other resources “to incite conflicts and turn them into large-scale tragedies.”
“This is happening in the Sahel,” he said, referring to a region of sub-Saharan Africa, “and it may happen even more painfully in Israel and the Middle East as a whole. We must not allow this to happen. We can avoid it.”
Putin, for his part, attacked the United States for the second day in a row, saying it was stoking another international crisis with the war between Israel and Hamas. Speaking at an energy conference on Wednesday, Putin accused Washington of acting recklessly in the Middle East by sidestepping international efforts to mediate between the sides and said he had failed to address core Palestinian grievances.
The United States has committed about $44 billion in arms and military support to Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February 2022, and on Wednesday announced it would send more air defense missiles, artillery, rockets and counter-drone equipment in a new package by value of about 44,000 million dollars. 200 million dollars. This week it delivered the rest of the 31 M1 Abrams tanks that the Biden administration promised to deliver to Ukraine in January, according to Col. Martin O’Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Europe.
“In terms of our ability to continue to support both the efforts in Ukraine and also our efforts in Israel, absolutely, we can do both,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III said after meeting with the others. defense ministers. “And we will do both.”
Officials said the Biden administration would also step up its participation in a coalition led by Norway and the Netherlands to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, although the fighter jets are not expected to be delivered until next year at the earliest. .
From Canada to Spain and Bulgaria, other allies also promised new arms and aid packages.
Most of it was committed by Germany, which announced Tuesday that it would send about $1.1 billion in Patriot missiles and IRIS-T air defense systems, and 10 more Leopard tanks.
Most of the additional assistance, which also included donations from Britain, France and Sweden, sought to respond to Ukraine’s needs to defend its skies from Russian air attacks, as well as artillery and ammunition.
NATO officials will hear from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant in a video briefing Thursday at the close of this week’s military alliance meetings.
For now, air defenses Israel can request from the United States include Tamir interceptors, missiles used in Israel’s Iron Dome system. They have not been sent to Ukraine, which has relied on a combination of air defense systems manufactured and used in the United States and Europe.
“There is no competition between Israel and Ukraine worth mentioning for those capabilities,” said Bradley Bowman, a former U.S. Army officer and senior military expert at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington research institute.
Where weapons needs could overlap between Ukraine and Israel, Bowman said, is in munitions and other ground warfare systems, if Israel launches a long-running rout of Hamas from building to building in Gaza. Ukrainian forces have burned through thousands of rounds of ammunition each day in their counteroffensive against Russia, a war of attrition that has left troops on the front lines begging for more ammunition.
“If we see a major long-running ground war in Gaza, the weapons Israel needs from the United States may begin to overlap with some of the weapons Ukraine needs,” Bowman said. “But certainly a possible competition between Ukraine and Israel for the same weapons could be managed.”
At NATO, Zelensky again emphasized how valuable it was to have the backing of allies and urged world leaders to “go to Israel and add their support.”
“I remember the first days of our full-scale war: it started with terrorist attacks,” he told reporters shortly after arriving Wednesday. “It was very important not to be alone.”
Ivan Nechepurenko contributed reporting from Tbilisi, Georgia.