Page 12 - Nato

Nato signs key artillery ammunition contract to replenish allied supplies

NATO signed on Tuesday a USD 1.2-billion contract to make tens of thousands of artillery rounds to replenish the dwindling stocks of its member countries as they supply ammunition to Ukraine to help it defeat Russia's invasion. The contract will allow for the purchase of 220,000 rounds of 155-millimetre ammunition, the most widely sought after artillery shell, according to NATO's support and procurement agency. It will allow allies to backfill their arsenals and to provide Ukraine with more ammunition. This is important to defend our own territory, to build up our own stocks, but also to continue to support Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters. We cannot allow President (Vladimir) Putin to win in Ukraine," he added. "That would be a tragedy for the Ukrainians and dangerous for all of us. Ukraine was firing around 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells each day last summer, while Russia was launching more than 20,000 shells daily in its neighbour's territory, ...

US Pentagon has no more money for Ukraine as it hosts meeting of allies

For the first time since Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin established the international group to support Ukraine in April 2022, the United States will host the monthly gathering of about 50 countries out of money, unable to send the ammunition and missiles that Ukraine needs to fend off Russia's invasion. While waiting for Congress to pass a budget and potentially approve more money for Ukraine's fight, the US will be looking to allies to keep bridging the gap. Tuesday's meeting will focus on longer-term needs, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters. Even though we aren't able to provide our security assistance right now, our partners are continuing to do that, Singh said. On Tuesday in Brussels, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced a new USD 1.2 billion joint contract to buy more than 2,22,000 rounds of 155 mm ammunition. The rounds are some of the most heavily used munitions in this conflict, and the contract will be used to backfill allies that h

Production has resumed at largest oilfield after over 2-week hiatus: Libya

Libya's state-owned oil company resumed production at the country's largest oilfield Sunday, ending a more than two-week hiatus after protesters blocked the facility over fuel shortages. The National Oil Corp. said in a terse statement that it lifted the force majeure at the Sharara oil field in the country's south and resumed full production. It didn't provide further details. Force majeure is a legal maneuver that releases a company from its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances. The company had activated the maneuver on Jan. 7 after protesters from the desert town of Ubari, about 950 kilometers (590 miles) south of the capital, Tripoli, shut down the field to protest fuel shortages. Over the past two weeks the company's chief, Farhat Bengdara, and military officials from eastern Libya have been negotiating with the protest leaders, Fezzan Group. Barzingi al-Zarrouk, the protesters' spokesman, announced that they have suspended their protest after they ..

Nato to start wargames with 90,000 officers in east European region

NATO will launch next week its biggest military exercises in decades with around 90,000 personnel set to take part in months-long wargames aimed at showing that the alliance can defend all of its territory up to its border with Russia, top officers said Thursday. The exercises come as Russia's war on Ukraine bogs down. NATO as an organization is not directly involved in the conflict, except to supply Kyiv with non-lethal support, although many member countries send weapons and ammunition individually or in groups, and provide military training. In the months before President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, NATO began beefing up security on its eastern flank with Russia and Ukraine. It's the alliance's biggest buildup since the Cold War. The wargames are meant to deter Russia from targeting a member country. The exercises dubbed Steadfast Defender 24 will show that NATO can conduct and sustain complex multi-domain operations over several months,

Know my VIP pick, commitment to Nato on European treatment, says Trump

The frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Trump was asked by anchors at a live Fox News town hall who was under consideration for vice president on his ticket.

Japan's foreign minister visits Poland to strengthen ties with Nato nation

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa met with top officials in Poland on Monday to strengthen ties with the NATO nation, which borders Ukraine. Kamikawa conferred with Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski in Warsaw and a placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She also was scheduled to meet President Andrzej Duda. She began her visit to Poland on Saturday but interrupted it to make an unannounced visit to Ukraine, where she pledged Japan's continued support for the country as it tries to defend itself against Russia's invasion. Japan announced during her visit that it would contribute USD 37 million to the NATO trust fund to provide Ukraine drone detection systems. In Warsaw, Kamikawa told reporters during a short news briefing that she went to Ukraine to show Japan's solidarity with the country and that Japan was working with Poland to support Kyiv. Both she and Sikorski said at a news conference that Japan and Poland are strong strategic partners who intend to strengthe

Ukraine ends year upset over stalemate with Russia, and anxious about aid

The year started with high hopes for Ukrainian troops planning a counteroffensive against Russia. It ended with disappointment on the battlefield, an increasingly somber mood among troops and anxiety about the future of Western aid for Ukraine's war effort. In between, there was a short-lived rebellion in Russia, a dam collapse in Ukraine, and the spilling of much blood on both sides of the conflict. Twenty-two months since it invaded, Russia has about one-fifth of Ukraine in its grip, and the roughly 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line has barely budged this year. A crunch has come away from the battlefield. In Western countries that have championed Ukraine's struggle against its much bigger adversary, political deliberations over billions in financial aid are increasingly strained. Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a waiting game two years into a war that proved to be a costly miscalculation by the Kremlin. He is wagering that the West's support will gradually crumble

Ready to talk on Ukraine but will defend our national interests: Putin

Putin, who sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, has repeatedly said he would be prepared to talk about peace, though Western officials say he is waiting for the U.S. presidential election

Nato should be prepared for bad news from Ukraine: Jens Stoltenberg

"I will leave it to the Ukrainians and military commanders to make these difficult operational decisions," Stoltenberg said

NATO chief tells Erdogan 'time has come' to let Sweden join the alliance

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he has told Turkiye's president that the time has come to let Sweden become a member of the military alliance. Turkiye and Hungary are the only NATO countries that have not yet formally approved Sweden's accession bid. Stoltenberg told The Associated Press that he urged Turkiye to finalise the process as he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday on the sidelines of the COP28 climate summit in Dubai. I met with President Erdogan this morning and I reiterated my message that the time has come to finalise the accession process for Sweden, he said. Turkiye has delayed ratification for more than a year, accusing Sweden of not taking Turkiye's security concerns seriously enough, including its fight against Kurdish militants and other groups that Ankara considers to be security threats. An apparent breakthrough happened at a NATO summit in July when Erdogan said he would submit accession documents to Parliament, but a debate on the

President Zelenskyy faces manpower dilemma in Ukraine's stalled offensive

Kostenko, 40, who is also fighting in southern Ukraine, said the military is struggling after long queues at recruitment centers last year have dwindled, with volunteer fighters long at the front line

Nato committed to Bosnia's territorial integrity condemns Russian influence

NATO supports Bosnia's territorial integrity and is concerned by malign foreign interference, including by Russia, in the volatile Balkans region that went through a devastating war in the 1990s, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday. Sarajevo is the first stop on Stoltenberg's tour of Western Balkan countries that will also include Kosovo, Serbia and North Macedonia. The Allies strongly support the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Stoltenberg told reporters. We are concerned by the secessionist and divisive rhetoric as well as malign foreign interference, including Russia." There are widespread fears that Russia is trying to destabilise Bosnia and the rest of the region and thus shift at least some world attention from its aggression on Ukraine. Moscow is openly supporting the secessionist, pro-Russian Bosnian Serb President Milorad Dodik who has repeatedly called for the breakup of the country and joining the Serb-controlled half of ..

Nato announces suspension of Cold War-era treaty after Russia's pullout

NATO on Tuesday announced the formal suspension of a key Cold War-era security treaty in response to Russia's pullout from the deal. The alliance said its members who signed the treaty are now freezing their participation in the pact. Most of NATO's 31 allies have signed the Treaty of Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, which was aimed at preventing Cold War rivals from massing forces at or near mutual borders. It was signed in November 1990, but not fully ratified until two years later. NATO said that a situation whereby Allied State Parties abide by the Treaty, while Russia does not, would be unsustainable. Russia's foreign ministry announced earlier Tuesday that Moscow had finalised its withdrawal. In response, NATO said, allies who had signed intend to suspend the operation of the CFE Treaty for as long as necessary, in accordance with their rights under international law. This is a decision fully supported by all NATO Allies. NATO underlined that its members remain committe

Turkey's president submits protocol for Sweden's admission into Nato

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has submitted a protocol for Sweden's admission into NATO to Turkiye's parliament for ratification, his office said on Monday, bringing the Nordic country a step closer to membership in the military alliance. Erdogan had been delaying ratification of Sweden's membership, accusing Stockholm of being too soft on Kurdish militants and other groups his country considers to be security threats. Turkiye also was angered by a series of Quran-burning protests in Sweden. All 31 NATO allies must endorse Sweden's membership. Turkiye and Hungary are the only two allies that have yet to ratify it. A brief statement from the presidential communications directorate said Erdogan had signed the protocol on Sweden's NATO accession, which was then submitted to the Turkish Grand National Assembly. It was not immediately known when Sweden's membership would come to the floor. Sweden welcomed the move. Glad to hear that Turkish President Erdogan has now handed o

NATO chief presses Turkey to advance Sweden's membership application

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday pressed Turkey to quickly ratify Sweden's membership in the military organisation, three months after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would help hasten the process in the Turkish parliament. Many allies would like to see speedy progress on this ratification," Stoltenberg told The Associated Press after chairing a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Brussels. Sweden has delivered on what they promised, and now we need the ratification of Swedish membership. Sweden and its neighbor Finland turned their backs on decades of military non-alignment after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia troops to invade Ukraine in February 2022. Their aim was to seek protection under NATO's security umbrella, and Finland joined in April. All 31 NATO allies must endorse Sweden's membership. Turkey and Hungary are dragging their feet. Erdogan spent months publicly saying he was withholding his country's approval because he believed that Swed

Ukraine Prez Zelenskyy seeks more support to fight Russia at Nato meeting

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at NATO for Wednesday's meetings with alliance defence ministers to further drum up support for Ukraine's fight against Russia. The US is hosting a meeting of the Ukraine contact group to seek more weapons and ammunition for the war-ravaged country. NATO allies and partner countries will be waiting to hear precisely what kinds of military equipment Kyiv needs. Following that meeting, the 31 allies and Ukraine will take part in the first NATO-Ukraine Council at this level. The forum was formally established in July as part of efforts to bring Kyiv closer to the alliance. It allows NATO and Kyiv to discuss issues of common interest and concern.

Nato in a bind as Russian attacks edge closer to alliance's territory

As Ukraine reaps a bumper harvest, Russia is targeting the export routes that run from the ports around Odesa

Nato chief meets with Zelenskyy to discuss 'ending Russia's aggression'

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss the status of the war and needs of troops on Thursday, the day after Russia accused Ukraine's Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week's missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet's headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula. Zelenskyy said that Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get NATO members to help provide additional air defence systems to protect Ukraine's power plants and energy infrastructure that were badly damaged in relentless and deadly attacks by Russia last winter. He also reminded the secretary-general of the persistent drone, missile and artillery attacks that often strike residential areas and were blamed Thursday for at least three civilian deaths in the past day. In the face of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, our ports, which are crucial for global food security, we need a corresponding intensity of pressure on Russia and a ...

On the brink of joining Nato, Sweden seeks to boost defence spending by 28%

The Swedish government said on Monday it wants to increase its defence budget by 28 per cent, putting it on track to reach the military spending target 2 per cent of gross domestic product set by the NATO alliance, which the Scandinavian country is preparing to join. We are in the most serious security policy situation since the end of World War II, which requires Sweden to have a defence that is ready to protect Swedish territory, defence minister Pal Jonson said. Unveiling a defence bill for 2024, Sweden's centre-right coalition government said military spending would increase by a total of 27 billion kronor (USD 2.4 billion). Of that amount, approximately 700 million kronor (USD 63 million) will be spent on Sweden's future membership of NATO. Jonson said Sweden must adapt its preparedness and its military exercises to prepare for NATO membership but must also continue its support for Ukraine. In May last year, Sweden and neighbouring Finland sought protection under NATO's ...

Proximity of Russia aattacks on Ukraine's Danube stirs fear in Romania

The discovery of drone debris on Romanian territory this week has left some local residents fearing that the war in neighbouring Ukraine could spread into their country, as Russian forces bombard Ukrainian ports just across the Danube River from NATO-member Romania. Moscow aims to disrupt Ukraine's ability to export grain to world markets with a sustained campaign of attacks targeting Ukrainian Danube ports, and has attacked the port of Izmail four times this week, Ukrainian officials say. Across from Izmail, pieces apparently from a drone were found near the Romanian village of Plauru, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar said Wednesday. It was unclear if Romanian authorities had determined when or from where the drone was launched, and Tilvar said the debris didn't pose a threat, but the development has left citizens in the European Union nation feeling uneasy. Daniela Tanase, 46, who lives in Plauru with her husband and son, told The Associated Press that the drone strikes on .