The head of NATO’s visit to Kyiv will send a clear message to Moscow

The head of NATO’s visit to Kyiv will send a clear signal to Moscow that the alliance supports Ukraine, despite not yet being a member state.

Jens Stoltenberg and other NATO officials have refrained from traveling to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale war began over a year ago. They feared such visits would be considered provocative, given that NATO is not directly involved in the conflict. However, Mr. Stoltenberg recently broke the mold and went to the Ukrainian capital shortly after images emerged of Russian President Vladimir Putin visiting troops in southern and eastern Ukraine.

The NATO secretary-general’s visit will be a major boost for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian armed forces after a major leak of secret US military documents revealed the scale of the huge challenges facing them as ammunition and weapons supplies run low.

Ukraine is preparing for a major counteroffensive, which is expected to be launched in the spring, requiring breakthroughs of entrenched Russian positions in the most difficult military operations yet in the eastern Donbas region and in the southern region of Kherson.
Despite not being a member state of NATO, the alliance has been rallying allies to support Ukraine, with individual NATO nations supplying weapons and ammunition under a US-led initiative called the Ukraine contact group, which also includes non-member states.