Defense ministers from NATO members are meeting in Brussels on Wednesday to discuss shoring up security in countries on Russia’s border.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and representatives from Georgia, Finland, Sweden, the European Union, and the United States are meeting to discuss the “need to reset [NATO’s] military posture for this new reality.”
“Ministers will start an important discussion on concrete measures to reinforce our security for the longer term, in all domains,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday. “On land, this could include substantially more forces in the eastern part of the alliance, at higher readiness, and with more pre-positioned equipment.”
NATO has “hundreds of thousands” of troops on heightened alert, Stoltenberg said. Roughly 100,000 U.S. troops are in Europe, and about 40,000 troops, mostly in NATO countries in the east, are directly under NATO command.
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Representatives will also discuss bolstering air and naval deployments, air and missile defense systems, cyber defenses, and holding larger exercises, Stoltenberg said.
NATO has no plans to bring Ukraine into the alliance, but it has awoken to the need to make it clear to Russia that it is not resting on its laurels. The alliance has poured resources into Ukraine throughout the 21-day conflict, including antitank and air defense weapons, drones, ammunition, and fuel. Member countries also had a hand in helping train Ukrainian soldiers prior to the conflict.
Despite its stance on not allowing Ukraine into the alliance, NATO is advocating for the country under siege.
“Ukraine has a fundamental right to self-defense, enshrined in the U.N. Charter,” Stoltenberg said. “And NATO allies and partners will continue to help Ukraine uphold that right by providing military equipment and financial and humanitarian assistance. NATO’s core task is to protect and defend all allies.”
Poland has been especially active in its support for Ukraine. After the Pentagon shot down a scheme Poland announced that would have sent Polish fighter jets to Ukraine through U.S. air bases, Ukraine’s northwestern neighbor called for a “peace mission” in the country on Tuesday.
“I think that we need a peacekeeping mission from NATO, or even possibly from a larger international structure,” Vice Premier Jaroslaw Kaczynsk said. “But a mission that will be able to defend itself and that will operate on Ukrainian territory, which will be in this country with the agreement of the president and the government of Ukraine, and it will not be a defenseless mission.”
Russia has been testing NATO’s resolve in recent weeks, flying drones through NATO airspace in the course of its war efforts.
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White House press secretary Jen Psaki suggested on Tuesday that the U.S. wasn’t considering drones crossing borders a violation of NATO’s borders, a provocation that could require a more forceful response than economic sanctions.
Wednesday’s summit precedes another major summit scheduled for later this month. NATO leaders will meet again on March 24 to discuss Russia’s invasion and how the alliance will respond.
