NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg has proposed creating a 100 billion-euro, five-year fund for Ukraine in a push to get the alliance more involved in sending weapons to Kyiv. NATO foreign ministers held preliminary talks on the plan in Brussels on April 3, as they seek to forge a support package for Ukraine by the July summit in Washington. “Foreign ministers will discuss the best way to organize NATO’s support for Ukraine, to make it more powerful, predictable, and enduring,” a NATO official said on April 2.
Yet his plan drew a mixed response from NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday.
“We must ensure reliable and predictable security assistance to Ukraine for the long haul,” Stoltenberg said ahead of the meeting, “so that we rely less on voluntary contributions and more on NATO commitments. Less on short-term offers and more on multi-year pledges.”
“Every day of delay in the decision of the United States in providing more support to Ukraine has consequences on the battlefield,” he said, adding that Russia is now able to “outgun” Ukraine.
Stoltenberg argued that creating more certainty with how Ukraine is armed and financed will also send a clear message to the Kremlin.
“We see Russia is pushing and we see how they try to win this war by waiting us out,” he said. “We need to answer by sending a clear message of practical support, financial support, and an institutional framework that ensures that we are there for the long haul to be able to end the war.”
NATO has returned to a Cold War mindset, Russian foreign ministry says
NATO has returned to a Cold War state of mind, Russia’s foreign ministry said as the alliance’s leaders met in Brussels during the week of the organization’s 75-year anniversary.
“Today, in relations with Russia, the bloc has returned to Cold War settings,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told press, according to a translation by Reuters.
Zakharova said NATO has no place in a “multipolar world,” and that its 75th birthday is no reason to celebrate, Reuters reported.
As the war enters its 770th day, these are the main developments.
Civilians, 3 Rescue Workers Killed in Russian Drone Strike on Kharkiv
A Russian drone strike in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv overnight killed four people and injured 12, local authorities said on April 4. Ukraine’s General Staff said 20 drones had struck the country during the night and that 11 were disrupted by air-defense forces.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov wrote in a post on Telegram that one of those killed was a resident of a 14-floor apartment building that was struck by a drone, while the other three were rescue workers killed at the scene in a second attack.
Police reported drone strikes in the Kharkiv region cities of Lozova and Zmiyiv that damaged residential buildings and vehicles. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War wrote on April 3 that Russia could be intensifying drone and missile strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, particularly its energy grid, “to further pressure the Ukrainian command to deploy air-defense systems away from the front.”
Russia has denied targeting civilians since the beginning of its full-scale invasion in February 2022, and yet Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure are regularly hit by missile and drone attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia fired more than 3,000 guided aerial bombs, 600 drones and 400 missiles at Ukraine in March, as it stepped up its long-range air strike campaign on the country’s energy infrastructure.
He said he believes Russia is “preparing to mobilize 300,000 military personnel by June 1”, but provided no evidence. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the claim was untrue.
Ukraine shot down 4 Russian drones overnight, military says
Ukrainian air defenses shot down four Russian drones overnight in the eastern Donetsk region, the country’s military said.
“On the night of April 3, the enemy attacked the Donetsk region with three S-300 anti-aircraft guided missiles, and launched 4 Shahed-136/131 UAVs from the Primorsko-Akhtarsk area of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian state news outlet Ukrinform quoted the country’s air force as saying in a statement.
“Mobile fire groups” intercepted the Iranian-made Shahed drones in the regions of Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, and Cherkasy, the statement added.
Russians Said to Be Eager to Enlist in Ukraine War
Russia’s Defense Ministry said more than 100,000 people had enlisted for military service in the Russian armed forces so far this year, 16,000 of them in the 10 days after the attack on the Crocus City Hall. ISIS has claimed responsibility for the March 22 attack.
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
