NATO's chief says alliance countries have moved too slowly to send Ukraine new arms against Russia
CTV
NATO countries haven't delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, the alliance's chief said Monday, allowing Russia to press its battlefield advantage while Kyiv's depleted forces wait for Western military supplies to arrive.
NATO countries haven't delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, the alliance's chief said Monday, allowing Russia to press its battlefield advantage while Kyiv's depleted forces wait for Western military supplies to arrive.
"Serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield" for Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told a news conference in Kyiv with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ukraine's troops were compelled to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the east, where the Kremlin's forces have been making incremental gains, Ukraine's army chief said Sunday. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Monday its forces had also taken the village of Semenivka.
"The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces," Stoltenberg said.
Ukraine and its Western partners are racing to deploy critical new military aid that can help check the slow and costly but steady Russian advance across eastern areas, as well as thwart drone and missile attacks.
Zelenskyy said new Western supplies have started arriving, but slowly. "This process must be speeded up," he said.
Though the 1,000-kilometre (600-mile) front line has shifted little since early in the war, the Kremlin's forces in recent weeks have edged forward, especially in the Donetsk region, with sheer numbers and massive firepower used to bludgeon defensive positions.
