Portugal cannot go further in helping Kyiv despite NATO’s call

The Defense Minister said on Tuesday that Portugal cannot currently supply more weapons to Ukraine, despite an appeal from the NATO Secretary General on Monday, because it has to balance aid to Kyiv with Portugal’s capabilities.

Asked about Jens Stoltenberg’s call on Monday to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member states to send more weapons to Kiev, Helena Carreiras agreed with the Secretary General, but defended the “balance”: “We help Ukraine, we help it with materials that we can make available at any time, seeking a balance between this assistance and the maintenance of our capabilities.

Speaking to reporters at NATO Headquarters in Brussels (NATO), Helena Carreiras added that the assistance provided by Portugal is visible not only in the donation of equipment, for example, Leopard 02 combat vehicles, as there is training, maintenance and support for these assets. .

At the same time, member states that help the Ukrainian Armed Forces should “think about military stocks, ammunition, industrial development,” in line with what Stoltenberg said on Monday when he called on military alliance member countries to increase ammunition production.

Portugal is keeping “end of March” as the deadline for delivering Leopard 02s and is working with Germany to be able to deploy them on Ukrainian soil by that time and in time for a predictable major offensive against Moscow scheduled for early spring. .

Already last Friday, at the close of the extraordinary Council of Europe summit, Prime Minister António Costa acknowledged that the sending of combat aircraft to Ukraine – in response to the call of President Volodymyr Zelensky – was not a “red line”, but Portugal. cannot do this as all available aircraft are fixed.