NATO foreign ministers met Thursday in Brussels as the alliance marked its 75th year of collective defense in Europe. The topic was Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the largest attack on a European country since World War II.
The anniversary comes as NATO members grapple with plans to provide more military support to Kyiv, which is plagued by ammunition shortages. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba appealed to the 32-nation alliance to send air defense weapons to counter Russian ballistic missile attacks.
“It is impossible to comprehend why allies cannot find additional batteries to deliver them to the place where ballistic missiles are being fired at every day,” Mr. Kuleba said.
In March, Russia launched an average of three ballistic missiles into Ukraine every day, Mr. Kuleba said ahead of the meeting.
“There is no other place in the world where this happens,” he said. “Therefore, it makes sense to deliver more Patriot (missile) systems to Ukraine to defend the skies.”
On April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of 12 countries in Europe and North America came together to sign the North Atlantic Treaty to create the alliance. NATO kept the peace through the long years of the Cold War, from the Berlin Airlift to the fall of the Berlin Wall, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg noted in the anniversary celebration.
Mr. Stoltenberg served in Norway’s army from 1979-80.
“If there was a war, we would be on the front line, but I was not afraid,” he said. “I knew we were not alone. We had the might of the NATO alliance behind us.”
Mr. Stoltenberg noted that NATO first invoked Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, also called the Washington Treaty, which states that an assault on one member is an assault on the entire alliance, following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania.
Europe needs America for its security, but also North America needs Europe, Mr. Stoltenberg said.
“European allies provide world-class militaries, vast intelligence networks, and unique diplomatic leverage multiplying America’s might,” he said. “Through NATO, the United States has more friends and more allies than any other major power.”
Mr. Stoltenberg said he doesn’t believe America or Europe can succeed on its own.
“I believe in America and Europe together in NATO,” he said. “We are stronger together.”