'US should deliver what it promised to Ukraine': NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg on Kyiv military aid package

Feb 17, 2024 - 19:30

0 115

'US should deliver what it promised to Ukraine': NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg on Kyiv military aid package

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg Saturday asked the US to deliver “what they promised” to Ukraine as a military aid package worth $60 billion was blocked in Congress.

There was a “vital and urgent need for the US to decide on a package for Ukraine because they need that support”, Stoltenberg told the Munich Security Conference, adding: “So now it’s for the US to deliver what they have promised”.

Earlier this week, Stoltenberg said that the US failure to vote on the military aid package has impacted Ukraine on the battlefield.

“The fact that the US has not been able to make a decision so far has already had consequences. It is impacting the flow of support,” the NATO chief told reporters in Brussels.

Why is the aid package blocked?

The US Senate this week passed foreign aid packages for Ukraine and Israel.

However, former President Donald Trump-backed House Speaker Mike Johnson is reportedly refusing to allow the Ukraine package to be discussed and voted in the lower chamber.

Stoltenberg stressed Europe and Canada were also stepping up with aid for Ukraine. He said their combined economic and military assistance to Kyiv was more than the U.S. had provided.

But he said the U.S. report “remains vital”.

“If President Putin wins in Ukraine, it will send a message to him but also other authoritarian leaders that they get what they want when they use military force. It will make the world more dangerous (and) us more vulnerable,” he added.

With inputs from agencies

Original Post