On Thursday, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg visited Kyiv for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion to back Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
A Reuters photographer reported Stoltenberg paid his condolences to Ukrainian service members slain in the battle and assessed damaged Russian military equipment on a key Kyiv square.
The photographer reported the NATO chief drove away after the ceremony.
Russia’s Feb. 24, 2022 invasion killed thousands, uprooted millions, wrecked cities, and ruined the Ukrainian economy. NATO members have sent weaponry but not soldiers to Ukraine.
After the Kremlin annexed four Ukrainian territories that Russian troops partially occupied, Ukraine applied for fast-track NATO membership in September.
Moscow views NATO as an advancing military alliance. 1991 saw Ukraine’s independence from the USSR.
