Vladimir Putin “totally underestimated” the West’s willingness to back Ukraine in its “grinding” war with Russia, NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said today.
Former Norwegian Prime Minister Mr Stoltenberg, who heads the 31-member alliance, said the Kremlin failed to realise how the coalition and allies would rush to help Kyiv after Russian troops invaded on February 24 last year.
Countries have sent billions of pounds worth of gear and arms to Ukraine, including helicopters, tanks, ammunition and long-range missiles.
Mr Stoltenberg said: “What has happened over the last 15 months demonstrates that President Putin made at least two big, strategic mistakes” in the run-up to the invasion.
“One was to underestimate Ukrainians - the bravery, the resolve, the courage of Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian political leadership and Ukrainian armed forces,” he told the Brussels Forum, an annual conference organised by the Washington-based German Marshall Fund think tank.
“He also totally underestimated us - NATO allies and partners.
“He didn’t expect at all our unity, our resolve to support Ukraine.”
Mr Stoltenberg has already confirmed Kyiv will eventually join the alliance, following Russia’s invasion.
But, as he prepares to quit after nine years in office, he is under mounting pressure to offer President Volodymyr Zelensky’s regime a firm timetable for entry.
NATO leaders are expected to discuss Ukraine’s membership when they hold their annual summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius in July.
“There are consultations going on now … on a path forward and how to address the Ukrainians’ ambitions for NATO membership. No-one is able to tell you exactly what will be the final decision at the Vilnius summit on this issue,” warned Mr Stoltenberg.
“We all agree that NATO’s door is open for new members and that it is for NATO allies and Ukraine to decide when they should join, not Moscow - they don’t have a veto.”
But, pouring cold water on a quick approval, he signalled the application would not be granted while bullets and shells fly across the Ukrainian battlefield.
“The ultimate security guarantee will be NATO membership but that’s not something that will happen in the midst of a war,” he warned.
“To become a member in the midst of war is not on the agenda.”
Instead, he believed the crunch summit would agree a programme to bring Kyiv “even closer to NATO”.
The head of Britain’s armed forces, Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, told the London Defence Conference: “Collective security is something that I think has been affirmed by Ukraine and that’s why you see Ukraine’s ambition - it wants that collective security as well and it wants those security arrangements, whether that’s through NATO or through partnerships with other allies.”
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