One Ukrainian MP, ally to President Zelensky, exposes the truth of Russia’s threat in the basement of a Madrid Hotel.
He is present at the NATO summit to advocate for his country’s survival and future.
Oleksiy Gorcharenko informs us that Moscow has deployed “scorched Earth tactics”. There is a 1,000-mile front line, and Ukraine requires ten times as many arms to withstand Russia’s advances.
In one day, 45,000 rockets and heavy shells were fired in the Donbas region in Ukraine.
He said that “400 million people are dependent upon Ukrainian calories,” and that President Putin is making “100 million hostages through starvation”.
He knows that he and his country will not get what they want from this summit. This is what is known as a Membership Action Plan to join the military alliance.
He will speak to anyone and everyone who is willing to listen to your pleas for help.
The language is stark as you approach the summit venue.
According to NATO, Russia poses “the greatest and most direct threat to Allies security.”
This large military alliance is growing and its largest member is intensifying its response to Moscow.
President Biden will send more American warplanes to the UK and more ships to Spain, and will increase its military presence in Germany, Poland, and the Baltic States.
It is an honor that Finland and Sweden have joined the alliance as the 32nd and 31st members, respectively, after being shocked by Moscow’s invasion in Ukraine and their jittery about their proximity to Russia.
It’s amazing how things have changed.
A few years back, there was harsh and public criticism of Nato from its members.
Donald Trump called the military alliance obsolete when he was elected president of the United States. President Macron of France said that it was “brain dead” after he had called it “obsolete” during his presidency.
There is a vitality born out of necessity here. A collection of countries faced by an aggressive Russia after an era of shrinking defence budgets following the Cold War.
We were repeatedly reminded by the prime minister of his pride at the UK’s third largest defence spending in the world, and second in Europe.
The public’s resentful expressions of concern about the budget of the defence secretary or the head of the army mirrors private concerns in Parliament about what is seen to be creative accounting. It is a budget for a decade of bumpy geopolitical developments, one observer told me.
As the threat grows, so does the army’s size. According to the spokesman for the prime minister, it is wrong to “focus only on numbers.”
Plus, as inflation increases, money is less available. Therefore, a manifesto to ensure that defense spending grows faster than inflation each year was broken.
It is also true that the UK contributes more to NATO than many of its members. This is a sign of a volatile alliance facing a difficult future and a demand for money to match it.
