U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis informed NATO’s leadership in advance that the United States would launch a missile strike on an air base in Syria, the alliance’s deputy secretary general, Rose Gottemoeller, said in Kyiv on April 7.
Gottemoeller was speaking at the 10th Kyiv Security Forum on the morning after the overnight strike, which saw the United States launch 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles from ships in the Mediterranean at the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s Shayrat airfield.
The missile strike came in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack on Syrian civilians in Idlib province, which is thought to have claimed at least 80 lives. The United States blames the Assad regime for the attack, which it said was carried out by Syrian jets dropping bombs with sarin nerve gas.
Syria and its ally Russia accused the United States of acting on “false evidence.” According to them, Syrian warplanes attacked a rebel arms depot that had contained sarin.
“I think that was an important coordination to convey the message from the White House that this was a very focused attack in response to this tremendous chemical incident,” Gottemoeller said, adding that in her opinion the U.S. command demonstrated a responsible approach in sending a strong clear message to the Assad regime.
She said this was not a move that would lead to further escalation in Syria.
The U.S. retaliatory strike on Shayrat airfield has also been supported by statements from the leaders of the EU, Germany, France, and Britain.
The Russian defense ministry called the incident “an act of aggression” and Moscow was suspending the U.S.-Russian memorandum on flight security coordination in Syria.
Open door policy
During her speech in Kyiv, the NATO deputy secretary said relations between the alliance and Ukraine were “very healthy and symbiotic.”
“Ukraine remains among the most stable and reliable of NATO’s partners. Despite the conflict in Donbas, today Ukraine is participating in all NATO operations,” Gottemoeller said.
Analyzing the past three years of Russian aggression, NATO was taking on Ukraine’s experience in withstanding hybrid war, and was developing platforms for countering this particular new sort of aggression, she said.
NATO will continue to support Ukraine, particularly in providing treatment for Ukrainian servicemen affected by the war in the east, including psychological rehabilitation of those suffering from the posttraumatic syndrome. And since 2014, up to 1,700 Ukrainian medics have undergone training in NATO programs on advanced skills in military medicine.
While backing Ukraine’s reforms in security and civilian control over the military, the alliance underlines any nation’s exclusive right to choose its allegiances in a collective security system. NATO thus continues its open door policy for Ukraine, Gottemoeller said.
‘A strategic point’
As Ukraine-NATO ties have developed at an unprecedentedly high rate since 2014, Kyiv insists it will seek alliance membership in the foreseeable future, Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine’s vice prime minister on Euroatlantic integration, said in a joint statement with Gottemoeller.
“Ukraine has identified a mighty strategic point – membership of the alliance,” Klimpush-Tsintsadze said. “Today we see no other goal.”
She underlined that over the past year, Ukraine has received tangible NATO aid through sanctions against Russia and humanitarian support for Ukraine’s security forces, adding that over 400 of Ukraine’s wounded have undergone treatment in the alliance member states.
However, Ukraine needs even more help, Klimpush-Tsintsadze said.
“We’re not asking NATO troops to defend Ukraine directly. We’re not asking NATO soldiers to die for Ukraine. It’s our fighters who are now dying for your freedom, and ours. We seek solidarity in helping rebuild our armed forces. We’re asking for help through the granting of defensive weapons to Ukraine.”
