30 August 2024
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg chaired a NATO-Ukraine Council meeting at ambassadorial level on 28 August convened at Ukraine's request. NATO established the Council during the Vilnius summit in July 2023 as part of the efforts to enable closer coordination between Kyiv and the alliance.
The meeting discussed Russia's recent drone and missile attacks against Ukraine, some of the largest since the start of Moscow's full-scale invasion. The strikes on 26 August hit several civilian, energy and fuel facilities, including a dam in Kyiv that is part of the Kyiv Hydroelectric Power Plant. According to Ukrainian officials the airstrikes killed seven civilians and injured 47 more. A total of 236 aerial targets were recorded by Ukraine’s military, which said it shot down 102 missiles and 99 drones.
According to a NATO statement, the ambassadors strongly condemned Russia’s indiscriminate strikes and reaffirmed their commitment to further strengthen Ukraine’s defences. Stoltenberg said: “Ukraine continues to intercept Russian missiles on a daily basis, saving countless lives. But Ukraine’s ability to maintain their defences requires increased supply and more support. In the wake of the latest Russian assault, Allies today reaffirmed they are stepping up their military aid to Ukraine. We must continue to provide Ukraine with the equipment and munitions it needs to defend itself against Russia’s invasion. This is vital for Ukraine’s ability to stay in the fight”. Ukraine's Defence Minister Rustem Umerov briefed the NATO ambassadors via video on the situation on the battlefield and priority capability needs.
At the NATO Washington Summit in July, several member states announced they will send Ukraine additional strategic air defence systems, including more Patriot batteries, and agreed collectively to provide a minimum of 40 billion euros of security assistance in the next year.
Ukraine has been calling for restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons supplied by western allies to be lifted and it is unclear whether this issue was discussed by the ambassadors. The United States and several other NATO member states are resisting such a move arguing it could be escalatory. Others, such as Poland and the UK are more supportive.
Poland’s foreign minister, Radosław Sikorski, said that while Russia was using long-range weapons against Ukraine, allies should “let Ukraine fight with whatever it has, with whatever we have delivered them and let’s deliver them more”. Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said in a broadcast conversation with Sikorski that the biggest problem faced by Kyiv was its allies’ fear of escalation. “The war is always about a lot of hardware – money, weapons, resources – but the real problems are always here, in the heads … Most of our partners are afraid of discussing the future of Russia … This is something that is very upsetting because if we do not speak about the future of the source of threat, then we cannot build strategy,” he said.