NATO was "very afraid of consequences" of providing Ukraine with weapons before Russia's full-scale invasion – Stoltenberg

Jens Stoltenberg, the former NATO Secretary General, has admitted that Western allies did not provide Ukraine with lethal weapons in time and in sufficient quantities.

Source: European Pravda citing Stoltenberg’s interview with the Financial Times

Details: Stoltenberg said he regrets that the Alliance did not provide Ukraine with "much more military support much earlier".

"I think we all have to admit, we should have given them more weapons pre-invasion. And we should have given them more advanced weapons, faster, after the invasion. I take my part of the responsibility," he added.

The former NATO secretary general pointed out that before February 2022, there was a "big discussion" in NATO about whether to provide Kyiv with weapons. He claims that "most allies were against that, pre-invasion . . . they were very afraid of the consequences".

"I’m proud of what we have done, but it would have been a great advantage if it started earlier. It maybe could even have prevented the invasion, or at least made it much harder for [Russia] to do what they’ve done," he said.

Earlier, Stoltenberg had already admitted that the Alliance could have done more to prevent a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

He also spoke about how the Russian side lied to NATO representatives before the full-scale invasion took place.

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