NATO military committee chief, in Ukraine, calls for strong allied support

WASHINGTON (Reuters): NATO Military Committee Chief Rob Bauer said during a visit to Kyiv on Thursday that Ukraine’s allies should not be too pessimistic about its ability to repel Russian troops and called for important aid packages to be delivered quickly.

Bauer led the first official visit to Kyiv by a NATO military delegation since February 2022 when Russia sent thousands of troops to Ukraine in a multi-pronged invasion.

Kyiv’s troops are facing shortages of ammunition shells and manpower, and are on the back foot in the east where Russian forces are inching forward.

“Ukraine needs even more support. And you need it now. Time in Ukraine is not measured in days, weeks or months. It is measured in human lives. In allied nations a week is a week. In Ukraine a week is a mother, a father, child, friend, lover, lost forever,” he told the Kyiv Security Forum.

He hailed Ukraine’s resilience and ability to adjust quickly while changing many aspects of modern warfare.

Bauer also met Ukraine’s Army Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi for talks on the current combat situation. Syrskyi said on Facebook that ammunition supplies and air defenses were discussed.

With Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Bauer had a talk on prospects for combat training for Ukrainian servicemen and defense industries cooperation, the ministry said.

“While the world may have been overly optimistic in 2023 we should not make the same mistake becoming overly pessimistic in 2024,” Bauer told the forum, expressing confidence in Ukraine’s ability to succeed on the battlefield.