NATO to host defense ministerial meeting, Ramstein Contact Group meeting with Reznikov

BRUSSELS. Oct 12 (Interfax-Ukraine) – A two-day meeting of defense ministers of NATO member countries is starting in Brussels, which will also include a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group in the Ramstein format. Their Ukrainian colleague Oleksiy Reznikov will meet with the ministers.

Ministers are expected to discuss increased support for Ukraine.

As NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said before the start of the meeting, which will be held on October 12-13 at NATO headquarters, the defense ministers "are meeting at a pivotal moment for our security." "Over the last weeks, we have seen the most serious escalation of the war since the invasion in February. Russia is mobilising tens of thousands of new troops. They are trying to illegally annex new Ukrainian lands and we have seen the indiscriminate strikes against Ukrainian cities. And then of course, we also have heard the veiled nuclear threats coming from Moscow. All of this makes this the most serious escalation since February. The message from the NATO Allies will be that we are steadfast in our support to Ukraine, that we are prepared for the long haul and that we will support them for as long as it takes," he said.

"I welcome that NATO Allies are providing air defence systems. We need different types of air defence: short range, long range, air defence systems to take ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, different systems for different tasks and then of course, Ukraine is a big country, many cities, so we need to scale up to be able to help Ukraine defend even more cities and more territory against the horrific Russian attacks against their civilian populations," Stoltenberg said.

"There will be a meeting with Minister Reznikov in the US-led Contact Group for Ukraine and also dinner with NATO Ministers later on today, where we will address how to ramp up support for Ukraine," he said.

Other issues on the agenda, the NATO Secretary General called deterrence and defense, the replenishment of arsenals, the resources of which are depleted due to the support of Ukraine.

"We need to address it. I expect that the Ministers will agree to review our guidelines for stocks and also to engage more with industry. NATO is a unique platform. We have the NATO Defence Planning Process," Stoltenberg said.

The meeting of the US-led Contact Group for Ukraine with Reznikov is expected to start at 13.00 (14.00 Kyiv time).

The second day of the ministerial meeting will begin with a meeting of the Nuclear Planning Group, which will be chaired by Stoltenberg. It will be followed by a meeting of the North Atlantic Council with invited members Finland and Sweden, the second part of which will be joined by the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign and Security Policy, Josep Borrell.