The United States and its NATO allies are discussing sending anti-ship missiles to Ukraine, a senior US official said Thursday, after Russian vessels attacked Kyiv’s Black Sea ports.
“We have started consulting with allies on providing anti-ship missiles to Ukraine,” the official told reporters as a NATO summit got under way in Brussels.
“There may be some technical challenges with making that happen, but that is something that we are consulting with allies and starting to work on.”
The consideration comes as President Joe Biden sought to up the price for the Kremlin at a day-long string of summit in Brussels.
Ukraine Pleads for Arms
“To save people and our cities, Ukraine needs military assistance without restrictions,” Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told NATO leaders in a video address as the war entered its second month.
“The Alliance can still prevent the deaths of Ukrainians from Russian strikes, from Russian occupation, by giving us all the weapons we need.”
NATO has rebuffed Ukraine’s calls to intervene and impose a no-fly zone to stop Russia’s ferocious bombardment — and Kyiv is now focused on getting more advanced weaponry to defend itself.
‘Putin Cannot Win’
“Vladimir Putin has already crossed the red line into barbarism,” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said.
“The harder our sanctions, the tougher our economic vice around the Putin regime, the more we can do to help the Ukrainians, I think the faster that this thing can be over,” he said.
Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas called on NATO’s 30 nations to “double our efforts” to check the Kremlin’s aggression against its pro-Western neighbour.
“Putin cannot win this war,” she said. “We have to stop the war criminal.”
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg insisted the alliance was “determined to continue to impose costs on Russia to bring about the end of this brutal war.”
But he ruled out NATO imposing a no-fly zone for fear of getting dragged into a “full-fledged” conflict with Moscow.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that this conflict does not escalate beyond Ukraine that will cause even more suffering, even more death, even more destruction,” Stoltenberg said.
