According to the publication, the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland promised to provide up to half of the needs declared by KievBERLIN, September 5.
/tass/. NATO, at the request of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Alexey Reznikov, called on the alliance member states to provide winter equipment for the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) as soon as possible, some members of the alliance have already promised to send assistance to Kiev. This was reported on Monday by Der Spiegel, citing its own sources.
According to him, Reznikov wrote a letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the end of July, in which he called for urgent delivery of winter clothing and winter tents for 200 thousand Ukrainian military. NATO confirmed to Der Spiegel that the alliance is in contact with its members to prepare a winter aid package for Ukraine.
In particular, we are talking about warm uniforms, winter shoes and winter tents. A few weeks after the request from Kiev, the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland, according to the publication, have already promised supplies. This can cover about 50% of the needs declared by Kiev. Germany, for its part, as noted by the German Defense Ministry, also wants to take part in providing assistance to the Ukrainian military.
However, as Der Spiegel points out, it is quite difficult to find clothes suitable for winter. Thus, military representatives from various NATO countries stated that the stocks of winter equipment in most countries are mainly reserved for national use and that winter clothing is also a desirable commodity on the world market. In the past, the Bundeswehr has repeatedly had problems providing its own soldiers with warm underwear and winter uniforms for deployment on the eastern flank of NATO. As a result, according to Der Spiegel, the German military is quite critical of the transfer of Bundeswehr items to Ukraine.
"With regard to winter equipment, such as clothing, materials for field camps and food, Germany can make an important contribution to support the defense of Ukraine in the coming winter," he said. Der Spiegel the words of the head of the German Defense Ministry Kristine Lambrecht. The details of the assistance will probably be discussed on September 8 at a meeting of the Western group for the coordination of military assistance to Ukraine at the American Ramstein base.
