|
Bauer led the first official visit to Kyiv by a NATO military
delegation since February 2022 when Russia sent thousands of
troops to Ukraine in a multi-pronged invasion.
Kyiv's troops are facing shortages of ammunition shells and
manpower, and are on the back foot in the east where Russian
forces are inching forward.
"Ukraine needs even more support. And you need it now. Time in
Ukraine is not measured in days, weeks or months. It is measured
in human lives. In allied nations a week is a week. In Ukraine a
week is a mother, a father, child, friend, lover, lost forever,"
he told the Kyiv Security Forum.
He hailed Ukraine's resilience and ability to adjust quickly
while changing many aspects of modern warfare.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, writing on his website, said he
had outlined to Bauer Ukraine's most pressing needs in terms of
weapons, ammunition and drones.
Zelenskiy said they discussed NATO's role in coordinating
support for Ukraine and developing its defense potential.
Ukraine, the president said, hoped for an assessment of
Ukraine's achievements at NATO's forthcoming Washington summit
that "will bring Ukraine closer to membership of the alliance".
In his remarks to the security forum, Bauer also said lively
debate around a bill on military mobilization now before
Ukraine's parliament was a normal part of a democratic society.
"It's cumbersome in democracy, it's cumbersome in a liberal
economy to convince people," he said. "I understand if you are
impatient and say it's not going fast enough...But this is
unfortunately the way it is.
Bauer also met Ukraine's Army Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi for talks
on the current combat situation. Syrskyi said on Facebook that
ammunition supplies and air defenses were discussed.
With Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Bauer had a talk on
prospects for combat training for Ukrainian servicemen and
defense industries cooperation, the ministry said.
"While the world may have been overly optimistic in 2023 we
should not make the same mistake becoming overly pessimistic in
2024," Bauer told the forum, expressing confidence in Ukraine's
ability to succeed on the battlefield.
(Reporting by Yuliia Dysa; Editing by William Maclean and Ron
PopeskiEditing by Alistair Bell)
[© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may
not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|
