Minister Anušić says NATO member states are closer to a unified position on Ukraine

After Wednesday's launch of the "Arctic Guard" mission to strengthen defense capabilities in the north, NATO defense ministers met in Brussels on Thursday to discuss Arctic security, defense spending and military assistance to Ukraine.

Representing Croatia at the meeting of NATO Defense Ministers in Brussels was Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Ivan Anušić, who outlined his belief that NATO member states were coming ever closer to a unified position on all major issues confronting the alliance: "Europe's idea, strategy and vision of how to best defend itself in the new geo-political circumstances is slowly taking shape. How to structure and interconnect its defense industry, and how best to spend funds on defense. I think that right now we can say that there has been tangible progress among NATO member states with regard to a unified position on the war in Ukraine, but also towards all of the challenges and crises Europe and the world currently face."

And while US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not attend the meeting, opting instead to send the undersecretary and Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby in his place, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte vociferously insisted that the US was still an integral part of the alliance's efforts with regard to Ukraine: "The US is putting every pressure on Russia, as the European's are doing, through the sanction packages (...) look at what has been happening with Lukoil and Rosneft, and all the other stuff the US is doing. The US is still delivering crucial air defense and all the lethal weapons into Ukraine through this PURL program, paid for by Canadian and European allies and partners. And the US is leading the peace effort. And there is only one country, the most powerful country on earth, the US, which can do that under the leadership of President Trump (...) breaking the deadlock with Putin (...) getting the peace process going. So I really think the US is doing exactly what we need when it comes to Ukraine."

However, undersecretary Colby told European NATO defense ministers that they need to step up their combat capabilities and take the lead in protecting their continent from the Russian threat.

Source: HRT