Today, Ukraine’s Western allies issued a renewed call to give Ukraine what it needs to defeat Russia, and the NATO chief warned of the danger of a Moscow victory as the anniversary of the start of the war approaches.

On the second day of a security conference in Munich, Germany, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said “there are no signs” that Vladimir Putin has “changed his ambitions.”

At this critical moment in the conflict, it is necessary “to give Ukraine what it needs to win and survive as an independent sovereign state in Europe,” the head of the Atlantic Alliance said in his speech.

The biggest risk is that Putin will win.

“The biggest risk is that Putin will win. If Putin wins in Ukraine, then he and other authoritarian leaders will be informed that they can use force to get what they want,” he warned.

Nearly a year after the Russian invasion began on February 24, 2022, no signs of relaxation are in sight. The fighting has claimed tens of thousands of casualties on both sides, and NATO fears a new large-scale offensive by Moscow is imminent.

The Kremlin is mobilizing “hundreds of thousands of troops” and buying “more weapons from authoritarian countries like Iran and North Korea,” Stoltenberg said.

The NATO Secretary General was also to urge the West “not to make the same mistake with China” as with Russia, which has forged an energy dependency relationship with Europe, according to excerpts from his speech provided to AFP by partners.

APE-MPE, AFP