Stoltenberg says Nato is failing to help Ukraine

NATO countries have not delivered what they promised to Ukraine in time, the alliance’s chief has said, allowing Russia to press its battlefield advantage while Kyiv’s depleted forces wait for Western military supplies to arrive.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg yesterday said that “serious delays in support have meant serious consequences on the battlefield” for Ukraine.

“Nato allies have not delivered what they promised,” Mr Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Kyiv with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, referring to delays by the United States and Europe in sending weapons and ammunition.

Ukraine’s troops have been compelled to make a tactical retreat from three villages in the east of the country, where the Kremlin’s forces have been making incremental gains against weaker opponents, Ukraine’s army chief said on Sunday.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi said: “The most difficult situation is in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions, where fierce battles continue,” referencing two Ukrainian-held cities in war-torn Donetsk province, once a hub of industry.

“Units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine, preserving the lives and health of our defenders, moved to new frontiers west of Berdychi, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka.”

Two of these front-line villages lie less than 31 miles east of Pokrovsk, while the third is located around 20 miles by road from Kurakhove. The Russian Defence Ministry claimed yesterday that its forces had taken the village of Semenivka.

Mr Stoltenberg said: “The lack of ammunition has allowed the Russians to push forward along the front line. Lack of air defence has made it possible for more Russian missiles to hit their targets, and the lack of deep strike capabilities has made it possible for the Russians to concentrate more forces.”

Ukraine and its Western partners are in a race against the clock to deploy critical new military aid that can help check the recent slow and costly but steady Russian advance across eastern areas, as well as thwart drone and missile attacks.

Mr Zelensky said new Western supplies have started arriving, but slowly. “This process must be speeded up,” he said.

Though the 600-mile front line has shifted little since early in the war, the Kremlin’s forces have in recent weeks edged forward, especially in

Donetsk province, thanks to sheer weight of numbers and massive firepower used to bludgeon Ukrainian defensive positions.

Kyiv’s Western partners have repeatedly vowed to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, but vital US military help was held up for six months by political differences in Washington, while Europe’s military hardware production has not been able to keep up with demand.

Ukraine’s own manufacturing of heavy weapons is only now starting to gain traction. Russia is a far bigger country than Ukraine, with greater resources to draw on. It has also received weapons support from Iran and North Korea, the US government says.

Mr Stoltenberg said more weapons and ammunition for Ukraine are on the way, including Patriot missile systems.