NATO chief vows more heavy weapons for Ukraine in 'crucial phase'

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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said, in an interview with German media, that Western countries are likely to provide more heavy weaponry to Ukraine in the near future.

Kiev has long pushed for heavier weaponry, including tanks, despite warnings that Western weapons being supplied to Ukraine, including Javelin anti-tank systems, are sold on the black market, most notably in Africa.

"We are in a crucial phase of the war," Stoltenberg said. "It is therefore important that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win," he further stressed.

The NATO chief claimed that military assistance to Ukraine is the quickest path to peace, and he lauded the US and German choices to arm Ukrainian troops with armored personnel carriers, as well as France's preparedness to deliver light combat tanks to Ukraine.

Read more: Stoltenberg vows more 'peace-bringing' weapons to Ukraine

The NATO Secretary-General further stated that during the upcoming allies conference on January 20 at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany, further decisions about Western weaponry shipments to Kiev will have to be made.

"The recent commitments for heavy hardware are important - and I expect more in the near future," Stoltenberg told Handelsblatt daily.

Earlier, Armin Papperger, CEO of German defense manufacturer Rheinmetall, stated that his business possesses 22 Leopard 2 tanks and 88 Leopard 1 tanks but that preparing them for transportation to Ukraine would take roughly a year.

It is worth noting that NATO's chief Jens Stoltenberg claimed in December that Moscow is preparing to prolong the war in Ukraine, stressing that the alliance's member states should keep the flow of arms to Kiev.

Ukraine's demands for more weapons and a huge flow of ammunition have drained the stockpiles of NATO members and sparked fears the alliance's defense industries may not be able to produce enough. 

Since the war began in Ukraine, Western countries, such as the US and Britain, as well as European states, have supplied Kiev with billions of dollars worth of weaponry, adding fuel to the fire in the war.

This comes after reports from US media that as Washington and its western allies continue to pump weapons into Kiev, maintenance of the armaments is increasingly becoming a headache.

Weapons overused by the Ukrainian military are either being wiped out or damaged during the conflict.

'Putting out a fire with petrol'

Stoltenberg's remarks come a few days prior to the 'Ramstein format meeting', where the Ukraine Defense Contact Group is due to pressure for amplifying weapon supplies on January 20. It is a US-led mechanism of 50 nations shipping weaponry to Ukraine.

Officials at the Russian Embassy in the UK  stressed that “those among the British public who are growing weary of warfare and harbor a desire for peace are in for a disappointment because one really cannot put out a fire with petrol,” in response to Britain’s declaration to possibly transfer Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine in an attempt to “coincide with the forthcoming 'Ramstein' format meeting” and pressure other European governments to send weapons to Ukraine. 

The statement continued to say that bringing tanks to the conflict zone will only intensify combat and generate more casualties. The pressure campaign "conforms to London’s objectives of prolonging the conflict.... hence the belligerent official rhetoric and the thorough disregard for the idea… [of] a negotiated settlement," it said.

The statement concluded by assuring that sending the Challenger 2 tanks “will hardly help the Ukrainian military turn the tide in the field” and will immediately “become legitimate large-scale targets for the Russian forces."

This follows UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's phone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday, during which he told him that London would send Kiev 12 Challenger 2 tanks. "The Prime Minister outlined the UK’s ambition to intensify our support to Ukraine, including through the provision of Challenger 2 tanks and additional artillery systems," Sunak's office said.

Sunak and Zelensky also agreed on "the need to seize on this moment with an acceleration of global military and diplomatic support to Ukraine" in particular, welcoming Poland and other countries' commitment to start sending tanks to Kiev.

In late November, Sunak vowed that his country would stand by Kiev's side "until Ukraine has won" during his first visit to the Ukrainian capital since taking office.

Read more: US-led West engaged in proxy war against Russia: US congressman