Remarks

So, Minister Umerov, dear Rustem, it's great to have you here at NATO Headquarters once again, you're always welcome here and I really look forward to sit together with you in the NATO Ukraine Council where we are going to address both the immediate needs to provide more security assistance to Ukraine, in particular need for more air defence, but also how to make sure that we have a robust framework for our support for long term and to help you to build the future force of Ukraine. 

Both of us just attended the US-led Contact Group for Ukraine and there Allies announced, actually, already more support for Ukraine. This is extremely important. So, we are urging Allies to step further up and also to ensure that assistance is delivered as soon as possible. Let me just also say that the bravery, the courage of you personally, of the political leadership, the military leadership, but not least all the men and women in uniform along the battlefield, on the battlefield in Ukraine, has impressed the whole world. And they have enabled you to make significant achievements to push back the Russian invaders and also inflict heavy costs on the Russian forces. 

And this is something which is important for Ukraine, but also important for all of us, because you're actually fighting for the values we all believe in. So once again, it's good to have you here and welcome.