Belgian PM: NATO shouldn’t get involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine

The NATO alliance should maintain the delicate balance between helping Kyiv and not getting involved in the war as this would risk the security of NATO and Ukraine, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said at the NATO summit in Vilnius on Wednesday.

“We fully support Ukraine in its war against Russia, but we must not get involved [ourselves]. We are not at war with Russia,” the Prime Minister said, Belga reports.

Since Russia launched its war in Ukraine last year, NATO countries have maintained a “delicate balance” between helping Kyiv and not getting involved in the war, De Croo stressed.

If the Alliance was to enter into war with Moscow, De Croo said it would not be a good thing “for our security” as well as “for Ukraine”. De Croo made these comments after his meeting on Tuesday evening with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who told him that his country was very grateful for the support of NATO members.

“This support is much broader than we had imagined. […] We weren’t convinced […], but [Zelenskyy] managed to convince us,” De Croo recalled.

Additional security guarantees for Ukraine have been outlined at the summit on Wednesday, including by the G7 countries.

Zelenskyy attended the NATO summit on Tuesday and Wednesday, meeting several world leaders. On Wednesday, he also participated in the first session of the new NATO-Ukraine Council.

This Council will give Ukraine “the necessary institutional certainty”, Zelenskyy tweeted ahead of it. “It is important for us that the NATO-Ukraine Council will be an instrument of integration, not just partnership,” he continued.

Additionally, De Croo said that Belgium would “look at how it can participate in these military programmes”, which should help Kyiv “achieve one thing: peace” – an objective that will lead to “the ultimate security guarantee, which is to become part of NATO.”

In an interview with L’Echo, on Tuesday, Belgian Defence Minister Ludivine Dedonder also said Belgium would participate in the maintenance of the aircraft, and that Ukraine could expect a delivery of F-16 at the beginning of 2024 – aircraft Belgium will not be able to deliver.

(Anne-Sophie Gayet | EURACTIV.com)