BRATISLAVA, Slovakia — NATO allies ought to intention to additional increase their help for Ukraine and for its aspiration to change into a member of the alliance, the leaders of 9 Central and Eastern European nations mentioned Tuesday.

The presidents of a casual group generally known as the Bucharest Nine, the nations within the easternmost components of the NATO alliance, met in Slovakia’s capital, Bratislava, to debate their widespread method on the NATO summit scheduled for July 11–13 in Vilnius, Lithuania.

“We aim for a more robust, multi-year, and comprehensive support package for Ukraine, which will reinforce its defence capabilities also by implementing NATO standards and increasing interoperability with NATO,” they mentioned in an announcement to conclude their assembly, which was additionally attended by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

“In light of Russia’s war of aggression, we will continue our strong support to bolster Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself and to relieve the humanitarian catastrophe.”

The leaders mentioned they “expect that in Vilnius, we will upgrade our political relations with Ukraine to a new level, and launch a new political track that will lead to Ukraine’s membership in NATO, once conditions allow.”

The Bucharest Nine got here collectively in response to Russia’s annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014. The 9 nations are Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.

At their assembly in Warsaw in February, U.S. President Joe Biden assured these nations that fear that Russia might transfer to take army motion towards them subsequent if he’s profitable in Ukraine that NATO’s mutual protection pact is “sacred” and that “we will defend literally every inch of NATO.”

NATO responded to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 by deploying multinational battlegroups in Slovakia, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. They complement one other 4 deployed in 2017 within the three Baltic states and Poland, to broaden NATO’s presence from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

“Russia is the most significant and direct threat to Allies’ security and we must be prepared for it to remain so,” the presidents mentioned. “We expect that the Vilnius Summit will further strengthen NATO’s defence posture on the Eastern flank in order to deter and deny any opportunity for aggression.”

Copyright © 2023 The Washington Times, LLC.

Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com