The Supreme Commander of NATO's Allied Forces in Europe, General Tod D. Wolters, said that his colleagues began preparing "in December and January the “ground lines of communication” that would allow rapid shipment of arms into Ukraine.

The Washington Post quoted Wolters as saying that the alliance studied entry points for the delivery of "supplies and other practical details," adding that the weapons pipeline that was established "delivered Stinger and Javelin missiles before the invasion began Feb. 24 and has transferred huge numbers of heavier weapons since then."

The paper further said that planning began in December with the US allies to see what measures they would adopt against Russia if the Russian army entered Ukraine.

According to the Post, the initial venue for this discussion was at the G7 meeting on December 11. The attendees publicly committed that there would be “massive consequences and severe costs,” Blinken remembered. As a result, he said, “when the aggression actually happened, we were able to move immediately.”

Days ago, the Secretary of the Russian National Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, said that NATO is attempting to keep the conflict in Ukraine alive and that it needs Ukraine as an arena to get rid of its aging weapons stockpiles.

Russia had for months been warning of the threat posed against it by NATO's attempts to expand eastward, which happened simultaneously with an increase in NATO military activity along Russia's borders, and batches of lethal weapons being sent to Ukraine, prompting Russia to request security guarantees from the West. Washington failed to provide the guarantees, leading to the war in Ukraine.