Stoltenberg Admits Impact of Russian Strikes, Contradicting Western Media

Wednesday, November 30, 2022

Lucas Leiroz, researcher in Social Sciences at the Rural Federal University of Rio de Janeiro; geopolitical consultant.

On November 29, the foreign ministers of NATO member countries met in Bucharest for a conference about the current issues involving the organization. One of the points commented on the occasion, including by the head of NATO, was the military impact of the air attacks that have been recently promoted by Moscow’s forces against the Ukraine’s side. In practice, the assertions at the summit contradicted many narratives previously spread by media and NATO itself about a possible “Ukrainian victory”.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a press conference after the alliance ministers’ summit that the latest high-intensity Russian air strikes caused immense damage to Ukrainian forces. According to him, this meeting between representatives of NATO states was necessary and timely to discuss new forms of aid to Kiev and to advance new countermeasures in view of the losses that Ukraine has suffered on the battlefield.

“We need to realize that there are enormous effects of the attacks (…) These attacks have caused significant damage (…) I think we all have seen these pictures taken from satellites, where you see Europe in light, and then you see Ukraine dark, and that reflects the enormous consequences. So there’s a huge task to rebuild all of this (…) One of the important reasons why this meeting today [in Bucharest] is so important and timely, is that this provides us with the platform to mobilize further support to step up even more, and also for [Ukrainian Foreign] Minister Kuleba to meet all his colleagues in NATO and then to address those urgent needs. And I’m confident that Minister Kuleba will raise also the need for stepping up further when it comes to rebuilding their power infrastructure”, he said to journalists.

The secretary also stated that new efforts are needed on the part of the Atlantic alliance to continue helping Kiev and strengthening its defense capacity, since the recent maneuvers have enormously harmed the Ukrainian side. The first measure in response to Russian attacks would be to send new air defense systems to Ukraine. The objective is to increase the Ukrainian ability to neutralize Russian missiles and drones, preventing them from reaching their targets, mainly those related to critical infrastructure. In this sense, he also emphasized that Western countries need to help Ukraine rebuild its damaged infrastructure.

“Here in Bucharest, at the foreign ministerial meeting, the message from all Allies will be that we need to do more. Both to help Ukraine repair the destroyed critical infrastructure, including the power and gas grid, but also, to of course address the attacks itself, by providing more air defense systems (…) This is partly providing more air defense weapons systems, but also of course to ensuring that those systems that we have already provided – and many of them are actually a modern, NATO standard air defense system, including NASAMS and others, that they are functioning. Meaning that we need to provide spare parts and we need to provide ammunition”, he added.

It is curious how often Westerners contradict themselves in their narratives. According to western media outlets, Ukraine is winning the conflict and inflicting a lot of damage on the Russian side. On the other hand, Moscow would be launching heavy attacks against civilian targets, without success on the battlefield. However, the NATO meeting denied it admitted the irrefutable fact: Russian attacks are strategically aimed at military and infrastructure targets, destroying the combat logistics of enemy troops – therefore, Kiev is losing, although they have not yet clearly admitted this.

The media spreads lies about the conflict with only one aim: to make the public believe in the possibility of a Ukrainian victory and to encourage its leaders to send more aid. Now that it has been proven that even with Western assistance, Kiev is not succeeding on the battlefield, the right thing to do would be, instead of expanding, reducing aid, considering Ukraine a militarily lost battle, thus seeking a peaceful solution. However, NATO proposes precisely the opposite: to boost military interventionism by sending new defense systems. In other words, the alliance once again stresses that it wants to prolong the conflict as much as possible and that it will fight “until the last Ukrainian” – or foreign mercenary.

With this, NATO makes it clear that it is at war with Russia. It is not a question of mere “aid” to Kiev, but of active participation in a large-scale military confrontation against an enemy country. In this relationship between NATO and Russia, the Ukrainian neo-Nazi regime is just a proxy, without any sovereignty, willing to obey all Western commands and unable to decide when to stop fighting.

You can follow Lucas on Twitter and Telegram.

Source: InfoBrics