European Commission Chief Urges Long-range Arms Aid to Ukraine
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her keynote speech, called on all who can provide Ukraine with long-range weapons. She made this statement during a speech on Wednesday at the Globsec security conference in Bratislava, a video of which is posted on the official YouTube channel of the European Commission.
In her speech, Mrs. von der Leyen emphasised the need to firmly stand by the Ukrainians "for as long as necessary" and proposed that NATO members provide Ukraine with clear security guarantees on the path to NATO membership. "The immediate need, and you know this, is military assistance to support the efforts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. That is why we have just proposed the Act on Ammunition Production," she said.
"Those who can should provide Ukraine with long-range artillery and weapon systems. This can help Ukraine to bridge the gap in range to the invading forces on the battlefield," added the Head of the EU Commission.
With the upcoming NATO summit in Vilnius in July, debates are intensifying as to what security guarantees can be provided to Ukraine if it does not become a full member of the Alliance, which is considered impossible as long as Ukraine continues the war on its territory with occupying Russia.
The President of the EU Commission, without going into details, noted that examples from history could be used for the future security status of Ukraine. In her opinion, reference can be made to the position of neutrality that Finland held after the Second World War until its accession to the EU.
She stated that NATO members could provide a range of guarantees to Ukraine and military assistance "through military equipment that can strengthen Ukraine against future Russian attacks", which would be a "deterrence by denial" method for Russia.
In the broad sense, "deterrence by denial" means convincing the opponent that "an attack will not succeed because the defense is strong". On the other hand, deterrence by retaliation, NATO's previous concept, means threatening the opponent "to retaliate for an attack if it is carried out" in order to deter the opponent from doing so.
The denial strategy was adopted by NATO at the Madrid summit, but the implications for Ukraine's defense in terms of troop placement were not fully explained.
The Head of the EU Commission again ruled out a peaceful plan with Russia based on a frozen conflict, stating that the threat of a Russian re-invasion would only stop when all Russian troops and equipment leave Ukrainian land.
She added that the EU understands that it is not enough for the EU to simply tell Ukraine that the doors for Ukraine's ultimate membership are open, the EU must take active steps to get closer to candidate countries.
Earlier, US President Joe Biden stated that the issue of providing Ukraine with long-range ATACMS missiles is still being considered. Meanwhile, the UK has provided Ukraine with its own long-range Storm Shadow missiles.