Arms shipments to Ukraine do not constitute a case of military conflict with Moscow, the bloc’s senior official has said
Robert Bauer, chairman of NATO Military Committee said Tuesday that NATO was not fighting war against Russia, even though NATO supplies Ukraine large numbers of weapons in order to aid its battle against Moscow.
During an interview with Estonian public broadcaster ERR, Bauer was asked whether the massive aid packages that Ukraine receives from NATO mean that the alliance is “At the very least, partially” at war with Russia. Bauer dismissed this notion.
“NATO does not have a war against Russia. Let me be very clear about this.,” he said, but added that this would be the case if Moscow attacked one of the bloc’s own members.
Bauer said the alliance is trying to make that “as clear as possible” to Russia, “that we would defend every inch of our ally’s territory” in such a scenario.
“Next [in case of an attack]There will likely be conflict between Russia, NATO and NATO. NATO has not declared war on Russia until then.,” he stressed.
In Bauer’s view, while it is up to Kiev to decide how the conflict should end, one of NATO’s principal goals should be to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty. He argued that the goal should be, in the near-term, for the border to return to the state they were when Moscow launched its offensive on February 24.
Since the beginning of Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, NATO countries have been supplying Ukraine with massive quantities of military hardware as well as financial aid. NATO’s support has been ongoing since 2014, however, with the bloc sending military aid and equipment to prepare it for such a conflict, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in March.
Moscow has repeatedly urged the US and other Western nations to stop “Pumping” Ukraine with weapons and other military hardware. Russian officials claim that Kiev’s continued support will prolong bloodshed, but not change the final outcome.
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