Delivery of Materials Necessary for Defense to Ukraine is Proceeding Smoothly

This was stated in an interview by NSATU Deputy Commander General Mike Keller.

The Gaze reports on it according to  the Ukrinform.

The NATO Security Assistance and Training Initiative for Ukraine (NSATU) is functioning smoothly despite political processes, providing Ukraine with the necessary materials.

According to Keller, about 350 people work at the NSATU headquarters in Wiesbaden. About 18,000 tons per month are transshipped by road, rail, and air to logistics centers in Poland and Romania, through which deliveries to Ukraine are made.

“We are talking about more than 65,000 logistics shipments by road, rail, and air since the West began supporting Ukraine in 2022—and there has not been a single significant failure,” the general noted.

He stressed that continuity of support is of paramount importance. Despite everything, the Americans will continue to supply critical equipment, and European countries and Canada will finance it.

"This is in line with the general trend that Europeans must take greater responsibility for their security and defense, the key being five percent of defense spending... And if you look at the Americans' commitment here, including their personal involvement, there is no doubt that they are fully committed," the general noted.

He denied that the current negotiations surrounding the American peace plan are affecting the NSATU mission.

“We are focusing on our core mission: coordinating military support for Ukraine. Of course, we are following political events and discussions, but they do not directly affect our work,” Keller said.

The general said that the main mission of the structure is to coordinate NATO's assistance to Ukraine in three areas. The first is support, i.e., the supply of weapons, ammunition, and equipment. To this end, the partners, together with the Ukrainian side, identify needs and seek ways to meet them. This can take place bilaterally, i.e., between individual states and Ukraine, as well as through NATO processes or the Contact Group on Defense Issues of Ukraine (Ramstein format), which includes 57 countries and the EU.

There is also the NATO Trust Fund, led by Britain, to which countries contribute and through which smaller deliveries are directly organized. This structure also supports the work of repair centers in Ukraine, Keller added. According to him, the NSATU mission also coordinates training. This involves approximately 250 courses and training sessions, some of which last several weeks. The largest provider is EUMAM UA, the EU military training mission for Ukraine.

The third area of activity is support for force development. This involves the long-term development of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Keller noted that the partners seek to ensure the best possible negotiating position for Ukraine. They support Ukraine's strategy of striking military targets in Russia at long range.

“This is part of the capacity building that we support. ...The Ukrainian defense industry is developing more and more capabilities to be able to hit precisely such targets and, possibly, prompt the Russians to engage in serious negotiations,” said the deputy commander of NSATU. In his opinion, despite massive air strikes and ground offensives, the Russians cannot achieve a decisive breakthrough due to the adaptability of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

“Ukrainians are very good at compensating for the unequal dynamics of forces with innovation and agility. And drones in the air and on the ground are a very good example of this,” the general believes.He estimated Russian losses at approximately 30,000 per month, of which about one-third are killed, one-third are seriously wounded, and one-third are slightly wounded. Keller recalled that the Soviet army lost about 14,500 soldiers killed in ten years of war in Afghanistan.

“This is a figure that is now being reached in Ukraine in about six weeks. This is madness and shows how inhumane the Russian approach is,” the NATO general stressed.

As reported, the NATO Security Assistance and Training Initiative for Ukraine (NSATU) is an Alliance command created to provide long-term, structured support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine through the combined efforts of NATO member countries and partners.

The creation of NSATU was agreed at the NATO summit in Washington in July 2024 to coordinate the supply of military equipment and training to Ukraine by allies and partners.

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