NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday again called for continued military aid to Ukraine and called on the Atlantic alliance in a message clearly aimed at the American public in the midst of an election year, AFP reported.
Speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, the head of NATO said that “Ukraine must win. Or maybe, but he needs us.”
“Supporting Ukraine is not charity (…) and is in the interests of the United States,” he said when the Republican opposition in Congress blocked a new $61 billion budget package for Ukraine.
After delivering tens of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Kyiv since the start of the war in February 2022, Joe Biden’s administration ran out of funds at the end of 2023. The president has asked Congress to approve about $61 billion in additional funding dollars, but talks with Republicans have stalled.
Stoltenberg did not directly mention the US presidential election, but former President Donald Trump, who is likely to face Joe Biden in November, has regularly expressed doubts about aid to Ukraine and NATO, even threatening to withdraw from the alliance if elected.
Stoltenberg, who has been visiting Washington since Monday, met Tuesday night with elected members of Congress as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican.
In a joint statement, the two leaders said that “NATO is good for Europe and for the United States” and said they wanted to “send a message to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he will not win his war of aggression against Ukraine.” .
“NATO is good business for the United States,” Stoltenberg reiterated on Wednesday, stressing that it “advances the interests of the United States” and helps support the American economy and create jobs.
He also visited the southern state of Alabama to visit a factory owned by the arms giant Lockheed Martin.
In July, the United States will host a summit of Alliance leaders in the federal capital on the occasion of its 75th anniversary.
- Jens Stoltenberg does not believe that Trump’s return to the White House will weaken NATO
Source: Hot News
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