NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg today (22 February 2023) thanked US President Joe Biden and the leaders of the Bucharest 9 (B9) countries for their strong support for Ukraine and commitment to NATO collective defence.
Mr Stoltenberg was speaking at a meeting of the B9 NATO Allies (Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia) in Warsaw, co-hosted by Polish President Andrzej Duda and Slovak President Zuzana Čaputová.
The Secretary General thanked US President Joe Biden for his "outstanding leadership" and for the United States' "ironclad commitment" to the security of Europe. He underscored NATO's "steadfast support" to Ukraine, as demonstrated by President Biden's recent visit to Kyiv. The Secretary General reiterated the urgent need to "sustain and step up our support for Ukraine" and to give them "what they need to prevail."
"NATO Allies have never been more united," Mr Stoltenberg said, "we will protect and defend every inch of Allied territory, based on our Article 5 commitment to defend each other." He highlighted Russia's "pattern of aggression over many years," stating "we don't know when the war will end, but when it does, we need to ensure that history does not repeat itself." "We cannot allow Russia to continue to chip away at European security. We must break the cycle of Russian aggression," the Secretary General said.
