“Russian troops are gaining ground” and this must be prevented. NATO does not plan a direct intervention but “we have two tasks: to help Ukraine and to prevent the war from spreading beyond Ukraine”. Thus the general secretary of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, in an interview with Repubblica following the meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. «It took the United States six months to agree on a new aid package and the European allies delivered a quantity of ammunition far from that promised. Now it is important that things actually change, not only with the extra 60 billion dollars from the USA but also with war production. Which is increasing throughout Europe, from the United Kingdom to Norway and in the EU – he explains – The important thing is that all this is quickly transformed into deliveries on the field to Ukraine”. On a nuclear attack Stoltenberg says he sees “no imminent risk of any military attack against any NATO ally. However, it is true that Russian nuclear rhetoric is reckless: we are monitoring but we have not seen any change in their attitude from this point of view. Moscow knows that a nuclear war cannot be won.” «Italy – he continues – since 2014, that is, since I was appointed General Secretary, has increased its spending. Lately it has been contributing to defense in many important ways, including leading one of the battlegroups in Bulgaria, with air surveillance, with maritime patrols and with a leading role in Kosovo. Some allies will not yet be at 2% this summer when the Washington summit takes place, but Italy has the ambition to grow and move with the others.” A spending increase of up to 2% was the subject of discussion with the Prime Minister, «and one of the important topics of the next summit. But I also praised Italy for all its contributions, for its support for Ukraine, for the fact that Italian defense spending has increased since 2014.”
