The intensified bombardments of Russia, the lack of sufficient anti-aircraft defense, the destruction of basic infrastructures for the civilian population and the increasingly threatening approach of winter are the four knocks with which Ukraine is knocking on NATO’s door this Saturday in Madrid. They are calling out not to their military structure -which also-, but to the politicians of all spectrums of their member countries, who are meeting this weekend in a Parliamentary Assembly of the Alliance that does not see a near end to the war on the horizon. . Four times he has insisted Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, in attributing the “sole responsibility & rdquor; from the Ukrainian war to Vladimir Putin on the morning of this Saturday. And by blaming the Russian president in his greeting to the deputies gathered in Madrid at the 68 NATO Parliamentary Assembly, has corroborated the main argument of this international meeting. Parliamentarians from the organization’s member countries sit five months after the Madrid summit of the Atlantic Alliance in an important Madrid hotel to talk about the challenges ahead of the allies. The discussions are divided around the economic, diplomatic, military, political and scientific perspectives. Each of these keys has a dedicated room and a meeting, with the respective presence of the First Vice President of the Government, Nadia Calvino; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jose Manuel Albares; the aforementioned Robles; the Minister of the Presidency, Felix Bolanosand Science and Innovation, Diana Morant.With them, 269 members of parliaments from the 30 member countries (in a future edition those of Sweden and Finland will be incorporated by full rights) and a hundred delegates from collaborating states of the Alliance. The objective of the meeting is to assess to what extent NATO follows the recommendations raised by its parliamentarians. But, in practice, the meeting has a lot of opportunity for contact between the different political sensitivities of the member countries with one in particular, which is enduring a military aggression with a high global strategic risk.Ukraine has a front row seat of the military meeting, between the tables of the United Kingdom and Turkey. There is in fact a delegation of six envoys from kyiv weaving relations with the different delegations in the rooms, corridors and coffee breaks.
More missiles for Ukraine
In the meeting devoted to military issues, the Ukrainian delegation directly reminded Minister Robles that her country needs more means to defend against Russian bombing. “We are very far from what we need to defeat this monster, which is destroying our infrastructure, creating desperate situations,” he said. Ivana Mikhailiuk before the assembly. And he has specified a need for “Hawk systems” and 120-millimeter mortars.By the first request he was referring to batteries of ground-launched, radar-guided anti-aircraft missiles. Robles has responded that Spain has already sent four Hawk launchers to Ukraine and “two more are committed.”“There are reasons for not detailing all the material that is being sent,” said Minister Robles, before stating: “We are aware that the priority at this time are anti-aircraft defenses & rdquor ;. Robles has announced that “this week a significant supply will come out & rdquor; and he has opined that “it is not a question of each country sending what is left over, but that we coordinately see what each country can contribute & rdquor ;. He has said it on the same Saturday that they return to Ukraine the first 26 Ukrainian soldiers trained in Spain. The training rounds will continue with other groups of 300 at military installations in Toledo.
war crimes
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The war in Ukraine “will not have an end point without a court that examines the crimes that are being committed”, has assured the Socialist and ex-military deputy Zaida Cantera, president of the Spanish delegation, asked by this newspaper. Cantera has said that “as democrats we cannot take it for granted that an international tribunal will try the guilty.” Cantera has not given it as impossible that one day a new Nuremberg trial sits Putin on the bench and its generals, and has recalled the precedent of the former Yugoslavia and the international tribunal that tried milosevic. At a press conference, the president of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, US congressman Gerald E. Connoly, responded to this newspaper about the still unfulfilled request of the deputies that the Alliance have a center dedicated to fostering democratic resilience. “If you visit the NATO headquarters you will see a beautiful building, a scene from Star Wars, but among offices dedicated to strategy, to countless resources, there is not a single closet dedicated to promoting democracy,” he explained. but it is a commitment from 29 of the members, a key commitment, and one that no ally should fear.” For Connoly, it is convenient not to forget that “NATO is a political organization”.
celebrating unity
Before this main meeting of those that are held simultaneously, the Minister of Defense has stopped to greet one of the members of the Ukrainian delegation. “The images that I have been able to see of the liberation of Kherson they are really exciting. Congratulations & rdquor;, Robles told him. The Minister of Defense has celebrated the unity and resolution shown by the Atlantic Alliance in “standing up to the invasion of the only person responsible for this war, which is Putin & rdquor;. For Robles, “Putin is failing not only for the heroic resistance of the citizens of Ukraine, but also for the unity of the NATO allies & rdquor ;. That unity persists, in the minister’s opinion, in the face of a war for which “a near end” is not foreseen & rdquor; and it represents “a high-intensity effort sustained over time,” said the Chief of the Defense Staff in a second round of speech, Admiral Teodoro Esteban López-Calderón.Margarita Robles has highlighted a fact from the CIS survey known this Friday: more than 75% of Spanish citizens “are very concerned for what is happening in Ukraine. And 66% are totally in agreement with the Defense budget & rdquor ;, she has pointed out. All this in a disturbing scenario, which can last a long time, which the minister has summarized as follows: “It is a physical attack on the territory of Ukraine, but it is also an attack on values from all of us. Today Ukraine is the one attacked, but any of us can be attacked.”