Remarks

NATO MULTIMEDIA ACCOUNT

Download NATO’s broadcast-quality video content free of charge

Log in

No account?

Create an account

Forgot your password?

Reset password

NATO MULTIMEDIA ACCOUNT

Access NATO’s broadcast-quality video content free of charge

Create an account

First name*

Family name*

Email address*

Password*

Repeat password*

Occupation

Nationality

I accept the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.

(As delivered)

It's a real pleasure to host the Minister of Defence of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal here at NATO. It is a great, great honour, and the more because he was Prime Minister before. So we have been working together now for four years, basically since this terrible, full onslaught of Russia on Ukraine started in February 2022, and even before I visited you in Kyiv, so I think Ukraine could not have a better Defence Minister than you. You're really on it.

NATO clearly prioritises to keep Ukraine in the fight as strong as possible today, making sure that all Allies, but also outside NATO, our partners, give to Ukraine whatever they can to make sure that you have what you need, both in lethal and non-lethal air defence systems, etc, etc. And of course, recently, we had the good news from the US that they decided to again supply to Ukraine all the military gear, the military kit only the US is able to provide. And there is no alternative. This is the so-called PURL initiative, and today, we started, basically today, with six Allies committing to PURL. The original six. So there was the Netherlands and Germany, Canada, and then Sweden, Norway and Denmark. But coming out of today's meeting, we have over half of all Allies, so more than sixteen, seventeen Allies now committing to PURL. But of course, we also still make sure that the Czech ammunition initiative is strong, that we have the initiative, which started with Lithuania and Denmark to invest in the defence industrial base in Ukraine, to keep that going. And, of course, all the bilateral support, and we just had a very successful meeting under the leadership of John Healey of United Kingdom and Boris Pistorius of Germany, of the UDCG, the Ukraine Defence Contact group. And we had nineteen countries speaking, and all of them announcing what they will supply to Ukraine, sometimes through PURL, other initiatives, but in many cases, also bilateral. So I think that was a very, very good day, but still a lot to do, because we have to get you through winter, we have to make clear to Putin that he can never win this and that we will keep on supporting you. And I think that's the clear message coming out of today. So again, thank you for being here.