Putin is “getting ready for more war,” according to Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, and he wants a Europe where Russia “can dictate what neighbors do.”
In honor of the Baltic nation’s independence day, Mr. Stoltenberg delivered the remarks on Friday in the capital of Estonia, where he was joined by Ursula von der Leyen, president of the EU Commission.
Ms. Von der Leyen cited Thursday’s UN General Assembly vote approving a nonbinding resolution calling for Russia to halt hostilities in Ukraine and withdraw its forces as evidence that Mr. Putin has failed to accomplish any of his strategic aims and that Russia is growing more isolated.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, has been invited to a Nato summit in Lithuania in July, according to Mr. Stoltenberg, who expressed the hope that he will be able to attend in person.
From July 11 to 13, Nato will convene a summit in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Mr. Zelenskiy thanked Germany for its assistance during the first year of Russia’s invasion and asserted that his nation can “stop Russian aggression this year” at the same time Mr. Stoltenberg made his remarks.
The Ukrainian ambassador and Germany’s top politicians attended a memorial event in Berlin on Friday where Mr. Zelenskiy delivered a video message. The event was hosted by German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
“This is the time when, with our courage and our weapons, we can restore peace and create a historically significant protection against every assault,” said Mr. Zelenskiy, who spoke via a translator.
Mr. Steinmeier led a moment of silence in memory of the war dead. “Germany is not at war, but this conflict worries us,” he remarked. The European security order has been destroyed by Russia’s aggressive war. He promised that Germany will be there for Kyiv.
On Friday, the German parliament changed one of the three German flags and the European Union flag that normally flies from the top of the Reichstag building to a Ukrainian flag. Moreover, a Ukrainian flag was flown in front of the chancellery.
According to Poland’s Minister of Defense, Mariusz Blaszczak, “preventive barriers” are being erected along Poland’s borders with Belarus and Russia.
The barricades, according to Mr. Blaszczak’s tweet from Friday, were part of a “plan of defense and deterrence.”
