Alliance faces biggest challenge since WWII: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said NATO was undertaking “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.”

NATO leaders were sitting down on June 29 to try to turn an urgent sense of purpose triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine into action — and to patch up any cracks in their unity over money and mission.

Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the Alliance was meeting in Madrid “in the midst of the most serious security crisis we have faced since the Second World War.”

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shattered Europe’s peace and driven NATO to pour troops and weapons into eastern Europe on a scale not seen since the Cold War.

Members of the alliance have also sent billions in military and civilian aid to Ukraine. The 30 NATO leaders will hear directly from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is likely to ask them to do even more when he addresses the gathering by video link.

Money could be a sensitive issue — just nine of NATO’s 30 members currently meet the organisation’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defence.

The war has already triggered a big increase in NATO’s forces in the east and allies are expected to agree at the summit to increase the strength of the alliance’s rapid reaction force nearly eightfold, from 40,000 to 3,00,000 troops by next year. The troops will be based in their home nations, but dedicated to specific countries on NATO’s eastern flank, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.

Mr. Stoltenberg said NATO was undertaking “the biggest overhaul of our collective defence since the end of the Cold War.”