On a visit to Italy on Wednesday. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed to the Rome-based Italian news agency ANSA that the alliance has no plans to deploy forces in Ukraine, contrary to previous messages sent by member state France.
However, Stoltenberg stressed in the interview that it is still necessary to provide Kiev with military aid.
Stoltenberg stressed that “NATO has no intention of sending troops to Ukraine.” “When I visited Ukraine last week, the Ukrainians did not ask for troops from NATO – they asked for more military aid.”
Stoltenberg added that although “the situation is changing now,” there are “no reports” of newly provided Western aid on the ground.
French President Emmanuel Macron has been rebuked by many of his NATO partners for suggesting over the past few weeks that sending Western forces into battle in Ukraine is “not out of the question.”
The United States recently authorized $61 billion worth of military and other aid to Kiev, but President Joe Biden’s administration has said those weapons will likely serve in a 2025 counterattack against a Russian invasion.
Stoltenberg added that Russian President Vladimir Putin still believes that Russia can win and that the only way to convince him otherwise is “to prove on the battlefield that he will not win, and the only way to do that is to provide Ukraine with military aid.” NATO chief said.
Other topics of interest
South Korea pledges to establish strong relations with Ukraine and smooth relations with Russia
The United States and its European allies have long asked Seoul to do more to help Kiev, with speculation that South Korea will change its long-standing policy over alleged arms transfers from North Korea to Russia.
Anti-Ukraine Republican lawmaker gets hammered by House during vote on leadership change
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday voted 353-43 to kill anti-Ukrainian Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) motion to remove House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from power.
After Johnson decided to ignore the warnings of the right-wing led by Taylor Greene and vote for a $61 billion package for Kiev last month, Taylor Greene and her very small but vocal isolationist coalition vowed revenge by organizing a revolution against the government. Newly elected speaker. House Democrats have broadly agreed to support the Republican leader in such a situation, and broadly joined in the “no” vote.
Under newly drafted House rules, any single lawmaker can force a vote to remove the House speaker, and while that led to the removal of Johnson’s predecessor, California’s Kevin McCarthy, late last year, her proposal on Wednesday was resoundingly rejected. In fact, as AFP reported, “the Georgia conservative was booed by her colleagues when she formally announced these efforts on the House floor.”
In the final tally, 163 Democrats sided with the conservatives in the House of Representatives, which is slightly controlled by Republicans, with a difference of only about four representatives.
Taylor Greene’s colleagues described the stunt as an “outrageous” distraction from the important work at hand.
Outrageous: Instead of focusing on the many pressing issues facing our country at home and abroad, Congress was forced to deal with another day of drama from my opponent, the chaos worker, Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Watch MTG turn Congress into a kindergarten. pic.twitter.com/3KbYp4dwWy
-Shawn Harris (@ShawnForGeorgia) May 9, 2024
The US State Department says the “pace” of aid to Kiev is back on track
The Biden administration said the pace of US funding to Ukraine has returned to what it was before the months-long stalemate on Capitol Hill, which was broken last month with a bipartisan agreement to refinance foreign aid.
“I think you can expect to see us get back to the kind of pace we were at before we saw this pause in funding,” Matt Miller, a State Department spokesman, said at a news conference on Wednesday.
Miller specified that Ukraine should soon expect additional funding, despite reports that the bulk of military assets promised in the $61 billion package approved in April will go toward the Ukrainian counteroffensive expected next year.
Fighting continues in the Luhansk region, and Ukraine strikes an oil depot
The Institute for the Study of War (IS) reported on Wednesday that Russian units advanced slightly along the Kremina Line in the Luhansk region. Meanwhile, the defense forces are said to have destroyed a Russian oil depot on Ukrainian territory.
Geolocated footage, released on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning, Kiev time, shows Russian forces advancing marginally to the east. Yambolevka (west of Cremina) and north Belohorivka (South of Cremina). In contrast, a Russian military blogger claimed that Kremlin soldiers advanced 1.5 kilometers east of Novosadov (northwest of Cremina), but ISW said it had not observed visual confirmation of this claim.
Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces bombed an oil depot in the occupied city of Luhansk with ATACMS missiles on Tuesday. Geolocated footage shows a major fire at a fuel depot in the city. Russian blogger claimed ISW reports that the strike destroyed several fuel tanks.
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