Stoltenberg: Putin Prepares to Use Winter as Weapon of War Once Again

Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO, has stated that Ukraine primarily needs air defence equipment, as the Russian President will again try to use winter as a weapon of war.

"First of all, we need today to mobilise more support for Ukraine, and as President Zelenskyy just said, this is about air defence, it’s about artillery, it’s about ammunition," he said before the start of the Ramstein-format meeting of defence ministers of NATO countries.

Stoltenberg welcomed the new announcements made in the last few days from Romania and Germany. "I expect more NATO allies to make further announcements today for more support to Ukraine because we need to sustain and step up the support," he said.

"Air defence is critical to protect the cities, the economy, the critical infrastructure of Ukraine, and that helps them to help themselves, because then their economy can function, then things can work in Ukraine and that will help the Ukrainians to produce, to trade, to function as a normal country and that will increase their ability to finance and to provide also ammunition for themselves for the war," Stoltenberg emphasised.

"What we are seeing now is that President Putin is preparing once again to use winter as a weapon of war, meaning attacking the energy system, the gas infrastructure. We need to prevent that and with more advanced and increased capabilities for air defence, we can make a big difference," he added.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that Ukraine expects announcements regarding air defence, long-range weapons and artillery from the Contact Group Ramstein-format meeting on Defence of Ukraine.

On 11 October, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in Brussels on an unannounced visit.