War-torn Ukraine can expect more heavy weapons deliveries 'in the near future': NATO

Brussels

The secretary general of NATO Jens Stoltenberg on Sunday praised the recent pledges by Western allies to provide heavy weaponry to Ukraine, adding that he anticipated more "in the near future." "The recent pledges for heavy warfare equipment are important -- and I expect more in the near future," Stoltenberg told Germany's Handelsblatt daily.

Stoltenberg’s comments came a day after a series of Russian bombings across war-torn Ukraine once more targeted crucial infrastructure, leaving nearly 30 people dead, Al Jazeera reported. The bombings hit a residential building in the east-central city of Dnipro – an attack Washington condemned.

Kyiv has long been urging its allies to provide it with vehicles, artillery and missiles to defeat Russia in the ongoing war. The NATO-designated Ukraine Defence Contact Group will meet for the third time on Friday at the US Ramstein Air Base in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. The bloc is said to coordinate arms supplies to Kyiv during the meet, according to France 24.

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On being asked if Germany needed to take similar action to equip Ukraine with more powerful weaponry, the head of the Intergovernmental organisation said: “We are in a decisive phase of the war. We are experiencing fierce fighting. Therefore, it is important that we provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs to win — and to continue as an independent nation.”

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the President of Ukraine, appealed for more powerful Western weapons on Saturday, claiming that the only way to confront Russian "terror" was on the battlefield. “What is needed for this? Those weapons that are in the warehouses of our partners,” Zelenskyy said during his address.

Last week, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s confidants said that Moscow was currently engaged in combat with the NATO military alliance led by the United States in Ukraine and that the West was attempting to erase Russia from the political map of the world, Reuters reported.

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With last week's announcement that it has "completed the liberation" of Soledar, Russia claimed its first major battlefield victory following months of defeats and inaction, a claim that Ukraine repudiated, saying heavy fighting continues in the region.

Countries including the United Kingdom, France and Poland have vowed to send tanks soon for the Ukrainian military to combat Russian forces. While the United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to  Ukraine with Challenger 2 tanks, Poland may deliver German-made Leopard 2 tanks. Finland may adopt a similar strategy, CNN reported.

(With inputs from agencies)

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