Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg makes first wartime visit to Ukraine

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg made his first wartime visit to Ukraine on Thursday, shoring up support as Kyiv pleads for more western weaponry to push on with a spring counter-offensive more than one year into Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Stoltenberg paid respects to fallen Ukrainian soldiers at a war memorial in downtown Kyiv during his trip, which was not pre-announced due to security reasons.

He is expected to meet Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other top officials on Thursday. His visit comes a day before he is due to attend a meeting of Ukraine’s western allies in Germany to co-ordinate military support for Kyiv, where Stoltenberg is expected to urge allies to accelerate shipments of weapons.

Nato leaders are to hold a summit in Vilnius in July where the alliance is under pressure to provide Kyiv with concrete progress concerning its bid to become a member.

“It is in our security interest to support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told reporters on Wednesday. “Because if President [Vladimir] Putin wins, it will make the world more dangerous.

“The message to him and to other authoritarian leaders is that, when they use military force, they get what they want, and that will make the world more dangerous and us more vulnerable.”

Asked about Stoltenberg’s trip, Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, told reporters that stopping Ukraine from joining Nato was “unconditionally” one of the goals of Russia’s invasion. “Otherwise there would be a serious, substantial threat to our country and its security,” Peskov added.