BERLIN – Germany has appealed to European Union and NATO member states to bolster Ukraine’s air defenses as quickly as possible as Russian missiles pounded Ukrainian cities on April 17 and its president repeated urgent calls for support.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have approached the EU, NATO and third party countries in a new initiative that will also be discussed at a Group of Seven (G-7) foreign ministers’ meeting this week.
Ukraine is facing a shortage of ammunition, with vital funding from the US blocked by Republicans in Congress for months and the EU failing to deliver ammunition on time.
“We and our partners around the world must now be just as resolute in our defense against Russian terror from the air,” Ms Baerbock said, ahead of the G-7 ministerial meeting on the Italian island of Capri.
“Stronger air defenses are a matter of life and death for thousands of people in Ukraine and the best protection for our own security.”
In the latest strike, Russian missiles killed at least 17 people and wounded dozens in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on April 17, prompting Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to make another plea for weapons.
The German initiative was in response to the changing nature of the threat in Ukraine, a German defense ministry spokesperson told a briefing, adding that a number of countries had signaled their interest.
“Russia is increasingly using industrially produced glide bombs that can be fired from a great distance from the Ukrainian border,” the spokesperson said.
Facing choices
The Netherlands, Czechia and Denmark quickly rallied behind the proposal.
“More air defenses are needed, and they are needed fast,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said after meeting NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and his Danish and Czech counterparts in Brussels.
“We will consider, the three of us, how we can support this German initiative.”
