The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation shall carry on supporting Ukraine and strengthening its own strategic deterrence potential. It shall also continue its operational engagement in the Western Balkans and the NATO Mission in Iraq and shall flexibly adapt its operation to the ever-changing security environment. All this was agreed by the NATO Defence Ministers during their two-day meeting in Brussels, which unexpectedly also welcomed the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“On behalf of the Czech Republic, I assured the NATO Allies as well as Ukrainian representatives that they can continue relying on our support in the fight against the Russian aggression, which I was able to prove by the fact that the Czech Government approved the mandate for the training of Ukrainian service members in the Czech territory for the next year,” said Deputy Defence Minister Daniel Blažkovec, who led the Czech delegation.
The Czech Republic is also among the ten NATO nations that moved towards the shared goal of common procurement of air defence systems. The representatives of these Allied nations signed an agreement in Brussels, which defines the fundamental legal rules for such acquisitions. The objective of this initiative is a project of common air defence called the European Sky Shield Initiative, which is, under German leadership, designed to significantly boost missile and air defence.
This was first defence ministerial session after the NATO Summit in Vilnius, which shortened Ukraine’s path into NATO and emphasised investments into defence. During the two-day program, the meeting of NATO Defence Ministers was complemented by a Ukraine Defence Contact Group that associates countries supporting Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggression, and the first meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, where Ukraine was represented by Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.
Outside schedule, the meeting was attended by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, who met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. President Zelensky was assured that NATO seeks to mobilise a greater military support to Ukraine. “Your fight is also our fight, your security is also our security,” Jens Stoltenberg said.
The Defence Ministerial agenda primarily checked on the delivery on the Vilnius Summit taskings in defence. “I was able to present to the NATO Allies the new Defence Strategy authorised by the Government of the Czech Republic,” Deputy Minister Blažkovec said. He also notified the participants of the growth of Czech defence spending, which will for the first time reach the NATO minimum benchmark of 2 percent GDP next year.
The agenda included the Western Balkans and the NATO Mission in Iraq. “I particularly accentuated the need to drive down Russia’s influence in the region of the Balkans and I also expressed our full support to the NATO Mission in Iraq as it counterbalances the influence of Iran,” Deputy Minister Blažkovec highlighted.
Defence Minister of the State of Israel, Yoav Galant, joined the session by videoconference on an extraordinary basis to shortly inform his colleague Ministers about the current situation in his country. NATO Allies unanimously condemned the despicable terrorist acts by Hamas and expressed their support to Israel.