BRUSSELS, Belgium
Ukrainian President Volodymyr
Zelensky made a surprise appearance at NATO headquarters on Wednesday, renewing
his pleas for additional Western weapons and comparing Russian President
Vladimir Putin to Hamas militants whose bloody attacks in Israel in recent days
have spawned a new war.Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday.
“Terrorists like Putin — or
like Hamas — seek to hold to free and democratic nations as hostages, and they
want power over those who seek freedom,” Zelensky said. “The terrorists will
not change. They just must lose — and that means we must win.”
Zelensky, appearing in his
trademark army colors and a black sweatshirt, spoke at a meeting of the Ukraine
Defense Contact Group, a gathering of dozens of nations organized by U.S.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. It marked Zelensky’s first visit to NATO
headquarters since the invasion, though he has addressed the allies remotely
from Kyiv before.
The Ukrainian president
arrived at NATO’s steel-and-glass headquarters at the outset of the meeting,
drawing a crowd of alliance officials as he greeted NATO Secretary General Jens
Stoltenberg with a hug and took questions from reporters. Zelensky, who last
year blasted Israel for declining to send weapons to
Ukraine, likened the militants’ tactics to those of Russian soldiers and said
that he was recommending that allies support the Israeli people.
“It was very important not to
be alone. Very important,” Zelensky said, recalling the early days of Russia’s
invasion on Wednesday. He added that the allies need to prevent the possibility
of “aggressors even to think about that third world war” and initiating a new
wave of aggression.
Stoltenberg drew no
distinction between NATO’s priorities and Ukraine’s in countering Russia.
“Your fight is our fight. Your
security is our security. And your values are our values,” he said. “We will
stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
The comments came a day after
Zelensky said in an interview that there is a risk that the new war in Israel
could distract global attention from Russia’s war against Ukraine. While
foreign military support continues to flow, Ukrainian officials and NATO allies
have raised concern about Republican lawmakers in Washington seeking to stifle
additional aid packages.
Austin, speaking at the outset
of the meeting, said that as winter arrives, the allies must rush to meet
Ukraine’s most urgent needs, especially air-defense capabilities and
ammunition, while also considering what Kyiv needs long-term. He announced
another $200 million in U.S. security assistance, including air-defense
missiles, artillery rounds, antitank missiles, and equipment to clear mines and
counter Russian drone attacks.
“We should be ready for the
Kremlin to again bombard Ukraine this winter with cruise missiles and drones,”
Austin said. “And we should expect Putin’s forces to cruelly and deliberately
put Ukraine’s cities, civilians, and critical infrastructure in their
gunsights.”
In recent weeks, NATO
diplomats and officials have voiced concern about Ukrainian readiness for an
expected Russian assault on energy and other critical infrastructure. Britain
also announced on Wednesday additional military support aimed at helping
Ukraine defend critical infrastructure and clear minefields, among other
things.
“This winter, Russia will seek
to undermine the morale of the Ukrainian people and divide the international
community, but in both cases Putin underestimates the strength and resilience
of his opposition,” British Adm. Sir Tony Radakin, chief of the defense staff,
said in a statement. “If we stick together, and stay the course, then
Russia will continue to lose, Ukraine will prevail and the rules that matter to
global security will endure.”
On Thursday, NATO defense
ministers will look at the longer term in a separate meeting, pushing ahead
with plans announced at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, in July.
The war in Israel and Gaza is
likely to be discussed as well, diplomats said. In a briefing ahead of the
meeting, Julianne Smith, the U.S. ambassador to NATO, downplayed the risk that
the crisis in Israel will distract the United States, or the alliance.
“I suspect the United States
will be able to stay focused on our partnership and commitment to Israel’s
security, while also meeting our commitments and promise to continue supporting
Ukraine,” she said.
Israel’s relationship with
Russia has deteriorated in recent months as Moscow has grown increasingly
dependent on Iran for supplies of drones and other weapons used to attack
Ukraine. Iran is a major sponsor of Hamas, and Russian President Vladimir Putin
has notably refrained from offering condolences to Israel, or condemning Hamas,
since the attacks over the weekend.
Instead, Putin and other top
officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have blamed the West for
what they called an “escalation in violence.”
As Zelensky visited Brussels,
Ukraine’s state security service, the SBU, announced Wednesday that it had
identified two Ukrainian “traitors” who provided intelligence to Russian forces
to direct a missile attack on a funeral reception in the
northeastern village of Hroza last week.
The Oct. 5 attack, which
struck a grocery store and cafe where locals had gathered after reburying a
local soldier, killed at least 55 people — roughly one-sixth of the village’s
population. The dead include one young boy. Three people are still missing.
Russian forces occupied Hroza
last year but Ukraine retook control of the village during a surprise
counteroffensive last fall.
Just before Ukraine liberated
the village, the SBU said in a statement published on Telegram, two local
residents, brothers Volodymyr and Dmytro Mamon, fled to Russia and followed
instructions from officials there to begin remotely forming “their own networks
of informants in the territory controlled by Ukraine.”
The SBU said the two men
gathered information “under the guise of friendly conversations” in messages,
including about military movements and various events in the region, including
the funeral last week.
“Having learned the exact
address and time of the event, Volodymyr Mamon gave this information to the
Russian occupiers,” the SBU statement said. “The Russians used the received
information to carry out a targeted attack on a Ukrainian village using the
Iskander M missile.”
Former Russian president
Dmitry Medvedev has claimed without evidence that Western weapons given to
Ukraine have ended up in the hands of Hamas and used in the attacks on Israel —
allegations that Kyiv dismissed as a far-fetched disinformation campaign.
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