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NATO to slash military support for Ukraine this winter — Chinese expert

"Subsequently, NATO or European countries may start negotiations with Russia, in a bid to appease the crisis and make the people of Ukraine and Europe return to a relatively normal life," Lu Xiang noted

BEIJING, November 29. /TASS/. The European member-countries of NATO this winter will drastically reduce military assistance to Ukraine, Lu Xiang, an expert on US studies and a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.

"It is believed that NATO officials, [Secretary-General Jens] Stoltenberg in particular, will soon encounter mounting piles of pressure. Even though he urged European countries to continue to provide supplies to Ukraine, judging from the actual situation of European countries, if they continue, it will be an unbearable burden for themselves. Such assistance is certainly not sustainable," Lu said.

"Not only Ukraine, but also Europe will be facing a very difficult and challenging winter. Leaders of European countries do not want to see these problems persist as it will hold them back in gaining more support in elections. As a result, NATO's sharp drop in aiding Ukraine is a likely scenario, with supplies keeping only at a symbolic level," the analyst believes.

"Subsequently, NATO or European countries may start negotiations with Russia, in a bid to appease the crisis and make the people of Ukraine and Europe return to a relatively normal life," Lu noted.

NATO’s Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, speaking in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sontag, acknowledged that support for Ukraine in the current conflict was very costly for the West, but at the same time he called for "maintaining and increasing" assistance to Kiev.

On Saturday, the New York Times, citing NATO officials, reported that two-thirds of the NATO countries had already exhausted their potential of supplying weapons to Ukraine. The sources said that the reserves of 20 of the 30 NATO countries were close to zero, but the remaining 10 members of the alliance, including France, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands, have retained the ability to continue to supply weapons. In all, NATO countries have transferred to Ukraine $40 billion worth of military hardware, which is equivalent to France's annual military budget.

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