Opening remarks

Good morning all of you and welcome to this meeting of NATO Defence Ministers.

Today, we will address how we are further strengthening and adapting our deterrence and defence, and of course continuing our support for Ukraine.

We are already seeing significant increases in Allied defence spending.

Investment is up by tens of billions.

And we will review progress on the 5% defence investment commitment agreed in The Hague last year.

We will discuss enhancing our deterrence and defence posture.

That includes Integrated Air and Missile Defence.

Strengthening our command and control,

Improving our readiness,

As well as our ability to deploy and sustain forces through host nation support.

We will also take stock of our work to enhance the defence industrial base across the Alliance.

To ensure that our militaries have the capabilities they need to keep our people safe.

All this is essential for our shared security across the Alliance.

From the South, to the High North and Arctic.

From the East, to the West.

NATO is always on duty to deter and defend.

This is why we have just launched Arctic Sentry,

Given Russia's increased military activity and China's growing interest in the High North.

We will also discuss our continued support for Ukraine.

As the United States continues to drive efforts to bring the war to a just and lasting end,

Russia continues to pursue civilian targets, including energy infrastructure.

So it is still essential that Allies continue to step up support - including through NATO's PURL initiative.

It is ensuring that essential US equipment is delivered to Ukraine, paid for by Allies and partners.

This afternoon, we will hold a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council.

We will be joined by Defence Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov.

And he will brief us on the situation on the ground, and on Ukraine's long-term needs.

We will also be joined by the office of the EU High Representative, as we work closely with the European Union on Ukraine, and of course on so many other issues.

Ukraine's security is linked with our own.

We must ensure that when this war ends, Russia will never try again to invade Ukraine.

This concludes this public part of our meeting.

I want to thank the media for joining us, which means could you please leave the room?