NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told what the day of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine was like for him and his team.
The invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine did not come as a surprise to the Alliance
Jens Stoltenberg remembers gathering at the HQ bloc on February 24, 2022, with other representatives of NATO member countries.
During this meeting, a joint statement in support of Ukraine was agreed upon.
We condemned the Russian invasion. We were well prepared, we gathered early in the morning, because we knew that the invasion would take place, the Secretary General notes.
He also reminded that not only NATO but other official Kyiv partners had warned Volodymyr Zelenskyy's team about Putin's plans for several months.
As Jens Stoltenberg recalls, the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the head of the European Council, Charles Michel, came to the headquarters.
We held a joint press conference where we declared our support. At that time, we activated NATO's defense plans, which provided for the redeployment of defense forces to the eastern borders, the Secretary General of the Alliance recalls.
Negotiations between the NATO leadership and the President of Ukraine also took place on February 24
According to Jens Stoltenberg, he managed to communicate with the Ukrainian leader on the same day and declare the support of the Alliance.
NATO Secretary General once again repeated that his team expected that the invasion would reach such a scale, as it had all possible data about the concentration of Russians near the Ukrainian borders.
We saw clusters in the south, east and north, in Belarus. We had quite accurate data about the plans of the Russians and their intention to take control of Ukraine, he emphasized
Stoltenberg frankly admits that February 24 was "a theatrical day."
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