The extraordinary NATO summit this Thursday will last three hours.
It will be followed by a G7 summit at Alliance headquarters with the face-to-face participation of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, who came to Brussels especially for this meeting.
US President Joe Biden will then meet the EU Heads of State and Government at the end of the afternoon, gathered for a two-day summit.
Before the opening of this extraordinary summit of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, the Secretary General of NATO considered that Vladimir Putin made a “big mistake” with the invasion of Ukraine.
On the menu of this meeting, "President Zelensky will address the leaders of the Alliance and they will examine their support to help Ukraine exercise its right to self-defense", specified Jens Stoltenberg.
NATO will also discuss the need to "reset its defenses on its eastern flank", he added.
New battle groups
Four new battlegroups will be created in Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovakia, and reinforce the four already formed in Poland and the three Baltic countries.
In total, more than 100,000 American soldiers are currently present in Europe and more than 40,000 troops are under direct NATO command in the eastern part of the Alliance.
In addition, discussions will focus on the sustainability of these forces and the increase in military spending by the Allies.
Decisions are expected at the end of June at the NATO summit in Madrid.
The war launched by Russia against Ukraine will be at the heart of the other two summits, with the coordination of sanctions to force the Kremlin to cease hostilities and the pressure to be exerted on certain countries, in particular China and India, for the to prevent helping Russia circumvent the punitive measures of the West.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is due to speak by videoconference during the three summits.
But he has already announced his demands.
“We expect meaningful measures.
From NATO, the EU and the G7,” he announced in a video message on Wednesday evening.
"At these three summits, we will see who is a friend, who is a partner, and who betrayed us for money," he added.
"No NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine"
However, NATO's position is known.
"There will be no NATO troops on the ground in Ukraine, nor planes in the sky", reaffirmed Jens Stoltenberg.
According to him, “a no-fly zone must be enforced and that would require attacking anti-aircraft defenses and shooting down Russian aircraft.
This would cause a war between NATO and Russia,” he explained.
At the same time, NATO will also explain itself to China.
The country on Thursday sent the NATO boss his accusations of "disinformation", after Jens Stoltenberg accused him of spreading "shameless lies" about the invasion of Ukraine.
A close partner of Moscow, Beijing has so far refrained from condemning the Russian invasion, contenting itself with calling on all parties to exercise restraint.
Westerners are urging the Asian giant to clearly demonstrate its opposition to the Kremlin offensive.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg denounced on Wednesday “the political support given to Russia by China, including by spreading shameless lies and disinformation”.
Relaying US suspicions, he castigated "the possibility of Beijing providing material support for the invasion of Ukraine" and urged China to "join the rest of the world in calling for an immediate and peaceful end to this war". .
"Accusing China of disinformation about Ukraine is in itself disinformation," Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, immediately replied at a press conference.
“The United States and NATO should engage in dialogue with Russia to unravel the crux of the Ukrainian crisis.
To solve a crisis, you have to be calm and rational, not throw oil on the fire,” he added.
