The secretary general of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, on Wednesday asked the allied countries to give priority to the sending of weapons to Ukraine to defend themselves from Russia, in the face of the need to meet the reserve objectives of the Alliance for Self-Defense.

“If the allies face having to choose between meeting NATO’s capacity objectives and providing more help to Ukraine, my message is clear: send more to Ukraine,” Stoltenberg stressed during a press conference after meeting with the leaders of the Netherlands, Denmark and the Czech Republic.

Stoltenberg also confirmed that on Friday the meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council requested by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, will take place, in which the president and the allied defense ministers will participate to “address the most urgent needs for support for Ukraine” and, in particular, for air defense and artillery ammunition.

The Norwegian politician made it clear that, as secretary general of NATO, it is “important that all allies achieve and meet the capacity objectives.”

“But I have realized that, at least in the short term, there can be a conflict between meeting all the objectives and supplying what Ukraine needs now, and that is why I have made it clear that if the only way to support Ukraine is to stay below NATO’s capacity objectives, that’s what needs to be done,” he stressed.

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At the same time, he pointed out the importance of increasing production to replenish stocks in the Allied arsenals.

Stoltenberg met today with the prime ministers of the Czech Republic, Petr Fiala; of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen, and of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte, to talk about how to provide more air defense systems to Ukraine, “because the situation on the battlefield is still very difficult.”

He stressed that Denmark has announced a new and important aid package, the Netherlands has just confirmed another 4 billion euros in additional military aid for Kiev and the Czech Republic continues to lead an initiative that is collecting hundreds of millions of euros to send more artillery projectiles to Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Germany has indicated that it will send another Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, and there are “indications” that the United States Congress could address the expected multi-million-dollar aid package for Kiev in the coming days, Stoltenberg said.

On the air defenses that Ukraine needs, Rutte said that they must produce more themselves in the medium term, study what else they can supply from their own arsenals and buy what is “available around the world.”

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Fiala highlighted that, through the Czech initiative to provide Ukraine with more large-caliber ammunition, about 200,000 projectiles have already been contracted and there are another 300,000 in process.

Frederiksen, for his part, said that all allies must “balance the needs we have as members of NATO and our own deterrence and defense, with all the things we want to do for Ukraine.”