At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Berlin, Germany’s Annalena Bierbock said she would “provide military assistance as long as Ukraine needs their help for the country’s self-defense.”
NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg said, “Ukraine can win this war. Ukrainians are defending their country very bravely.”
Sweden’s ruling party said hours after Finland’s announcement that it was in favor of joining NATO. This is a major political and public change in thought after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Social Democratic Prime Minister Magdalena Andersen said, “The best thing we can do for Sweden’s security is to apply for membership now.”
Stoltenberg said that the organization wants to guarantee internal security to both, while applications are being considered, this is possible by increasing the number of troops in the area.
“Common Remedy”
In Berlin, US Defense Secretary Antony Blinken said he had heard almost all support for claims for membership, despite some opposition from Turkey. Turkey has accused Sweden and Finland of harboring Kurdish extremists, but Stoltenberg has said Turkey is not blocking their membership and believes some common solution will be found.
It is being said from Russia that the Nordic countries do not need to be afraid. In protest, Russia has stopped Finland’s electric supply. Finland shares a border of 1,300 km with Russia.
At the same time, Russia’s defense minister has claimed that it has attacked four ordnance stations in Donetsk and eastern Ukraine. Two missile launching systems and radars were destroyed in the airstrike, while 15 Ukrainian drones were shot down in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukraine and Russia are constantly publishing big claims of harming each other. But it is difficult to fully trust these figures. Ukraine says it has killed some 20,000 Russian soldiers, while Russia said on March 25 that its military had killed at least 14,000 Ukrainian soldiers.
Both figures are believed to be exaggerated and have not yet been confirmed by AFP or any other independent conflict monitor.
Russia says 1,351 of its soldiers were killed by the end of March. A senior NATO military official estimated at the same time that between 7,000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers had been killed in the fighting.
