BRUSSELS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged allies to step up weapons supplies, on his first visit to the military alliance headquarters since the start of Russia’s all-out war.
Zelensky made a plea for air defense, long-range missiles and ammunition in the face of fears that the Hamas attack on Israel could distract key backer the United States from the conflict in his country.
“How to survive during this next winter for us is big,” Zelensky said as he addressed the media with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg before meeting alliance defense ministers.
“We are preparing, we are ready. Now we need some support from the leaders. That’s why I’m here today.”
Kyiv’s international backers were meeting to discuss arms deliveries, with a focus on keeping Ukraine’s counter-offensive advancing and providing air defenses to protect against an expected winter onslaught by Russia.
“We will stand by you provide support to Ukraine, because this is really important for the whole of NATO,” Stoltenberg told Zelensky.
The Ukrainian president has expressed worries that the crisis in Israel could deflect attention from the war raging in his homeland.
Zelensky urged the West to rally around the Israeli people as it had around Ukraine after Russia’s invasion last year, and show them they are not “alone.”
“My recommendation to the leaders to go to Israel and I think to support people, just people I’m not speaking about any institutions, just to support people who have been under terrorist attacks,” he said.
The United States has sought to reassure that the decision to step up military support for Israel after the surprise assault by Hamas will not harm Washington’s ability to keep arming Ukraine.
The crisis in Israel comes as the White House is scrambling to find a way to keep weapon supplies flowing to Ukraine after turmoil in the US Congress.
Biden has sought to calm nerves among allies over Washington’s backing for Kyiv after new assistance was dropped from a deal in the US Congress to avoid a government shutdown this month.
The United States has given as much military support to Ukraine on its own as all European NATO members and Canada combined since Moscow launched its all-out invasion last year.
Western diplomats at NATO insist there is no danger of arms supplies to Ukraine drying up in the near future.
“It’s vital to underline our support for Ukraine,” Dutch defense minister Kajsa Ollongren said ahead of the talks between Zelensky and his Western supporters in Brussels.
“The war in Ukraine has our attention, and Ukraine has our full support.”
Ukraine is pushing to become a member of NATO in a bid to ensure its long-term security in the face of Moscow.
Alliance leaders at a summit this summer simplified Kyiv path for joining, but did not offer a clear invitation or deadline for Ukraine to become a member.
Zelensky rallies support on first visit to NATO HQ since invasion
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Zelensky rallies support on first visit to NATO HQ since invasion
- The US is hosting a meeting of the Ukraine contact group to seek more weapons
Venezuela parliament unanimously approves amnesty law
CARACAS: Venezuela’s National Assembly on Thursday unanimously approved a long-awaited amnesty law that could free hundreds of political prisoners jailed for being government detractors.
But the law excludes those who have been prosecuted or convicted of promoting military action against the country — which could include opposition leaders like Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, who has been accused by the ruling party of calling for international intervention like the one that ousted former president Nicolas Maduro.
The bill now goes before interim president Delcy Rodriguez, who pushed for the legislation under pressure from Washington, after she rose to power following Maduro’s capture during a US military raid on January 3.
The law is meant to apply retroactively to 1999 — including the coup against previous leader Hugo Chavez, the 2002 oil strike, and the 2024 riots against Maduro’s disputed reelection — giving hope to families that loved ones will finally come home.
Some fear, however, the law could be used by the government to pardon its own and selectively deny freedom to real prisoners of conscience.
Article 9 of the bill lists those excluded from amnesty as “persons who are being prosecuted or may be convicted for promoting, instigating, soliciting, invoking, favoring, facilitating, financing or participating in armed actions or the use of force against the people, sovereignty, and territorial integrity” of Venezuela “by foreign states, corporations or individuals.”
Venezuela’s National Assembly had delayed several sittings meant to pass the amnesty bill.
“The scope of the law must be restricted to victims of human rights violations and expressly exclude those accused of serious human rights violations and crimes against humanity, including state, paramilitary and non-state actors,” UN human rights experts said in a statement from Geneva Thursday.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Venezuelans have been jailed in recent years over plots, real or imagined, to overthrow the government of Rodriguez’s predecessor and former boss Maduro, who was in the end toppled in the deadly US military raid.
Family members have reported torture, maltreatment and untreated health problems among the inmates.
The NGO Foro Penal says about 450 prisoners have been released since Maduro’s ouster, but more than 600 others remain behind bars.
Family members have been clamoring for their release for weeks, holding vigils outside prisons.
One small group, in the capital Caracas, staged a nearly weeklong hunger strike which ended Thursday.
“The National Assembly has the opportunity to show whether there truly is a genuine will for national reconciliation,” Foro Penal director Gonzalo Himiob wrote on X Thursday ahead of the vote.
On Wednesday, the chief of the US military command responsible for strikes on alleged drug smuggling boats off South America held talks in Caracas with Rodriguez and top ministers Vladimir Padrino and Diosdado Cabello .
All three were staunch Maduro backers who for years echoed his “anti-imperialist” rhetoric.
Rodriguez’s interim government has been governing with US President Donald Trump’s consent, provided she grants access to Venezuela’s vast oil resources.
