White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday that U.S. military commanders believe what Ukraine needs now are “tanks, and armored personnel carriers, and infantry fighting vehicles, artillery, and air defense systems up there on the front line.”
“This phase is about ground combat and being able to have the tools in the hands of the Ukrainians to take the territory back that the Russians are occupying,” Sullivan said.
He also said allies are providing Ukraine with spare parts for the Soviet-era MiG-29 and SU-27 fighters that Ukrainian pilots use every day.
NATO expansion
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Monday talks with Sweden and Finland about their bids to join NATO will resume next month.
Cavusoglu told a news conference the meeting was set for March 9.
In January, Turkey halted the talks in response to far-right protesters burning a Quran outside the Turkish Embassy in Stockholm.
Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year. All of NATO’s existing members must approve their bids.
Turkey has expressed objections about Sweden, accusing the government of being too lenient toward groups that Turkey considers terror organizations.
Cavusoglu said Monday that Sweden has not lived up to its side of a June agreement in which Sweden and Finland pledged to lift restrictions on selling weapons to Turkey and to intensify work on Turkey’s requests to extradite suspected militants.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Turkey earlier this month “the time has come” to ratify both Sweden and Finland as new NATO members. Only Turkey and Hungary have yet to give their approvals.
Stoltenberg noted Turkey’s “legitimate security concerns,” while also saying Sweden and Finland “have both made big steps” toward fulfilling their commitments under the deal reached in Madrid last year.
The NATO chief is due to visit Finland on Tuesday. (KB/VOA)
