NATO chief tells EU to 'stop complaining' and support Ukraine amid war with Russia

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on July 20 asserted that the legislative body of the European Union needs to "stop complaining" and instead provide the support needed by Ukraine to defend its sovereignty against Russian aggression.

During a speech made at the European Parliament, Stoltenberg said: "The price we pay as the European Union, as NATO, is the price we can measure in currency, in money. The price [Ukrainians] pay is measured in lives lost every day."

He then asserted that EU member nations needed to “stop complaining and step up and provide support, full stop." 

'If not Ukraine, care about your own security interests': NATO chief to EU

At the joint meeting of the European Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on Security and Defence, NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg stressed that there must be strong support in NATO to bolster the cooperation between the European Union, NATO with Ukraine.

NATO chief urged the bloc to provide significant military and economic support to the war-ravaged nation, underscoring that the Alliance had signed a declaration on NATO-EU cooperation at least twice with former President of the European Council Donald Tusk and ex-President of the European CommissionJean-Claude Juncker. 

Stoltenberg stressed that the NATO Allies provide "unprecedented levels" of military support to Ukraine, adding that the alliance has been there since 2014 – training, equipping and supporting the Ukrainian Armed Forces against the Russian threat.

"We also agreed on a Comprehensive Assistance Package also on how to help Ukraine to move from Soviet-era equipment to more modern NATO standard equipment, " he informed, adding that NATO has been at the forefront to building defence and security institutions in Kyiv. But he warned that the 'Russian threat' could lurk inside Europe if the bloc does not step up cooperation and support. 

“It is in our interest to help Ukraine because you have to understand that if Ukraine loses this, that’s a danger for us," said Stoltenberg. 

“If you don’t care about the moral aspect of this, supporting the people of Ukraine, you should care about your own security interests," said NATO chief.

"Pay for the support, pay for the humanitarian aid, pay the consequences of the economic sanctions, because the alternative is to pay a much higher price later on” he added.

NATO chief reminded that the Alliance felicitated the biggest overall fundamental shift in its deterrence and defence since the Cold War across all domains – air, sea, land, cyberspace – as there's now a "more dangerous world," referring to Russia. "NATO needs to do more for our core task: protection of all Allies," Stoltenberg asserted.