NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has said the Allies, understanding how urgently Ukraine needs to receive military aid to fight back the Russian aggression, will check what else they can do to provide Ukraine with air defense systems, including Patriot, as soon as possible.

He said this at a press conference following a meeting of the NATO Foreign Ministers in Brussels on Thursday, during which a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council was held.

"The Allies understand the urgency of stepping up when it comes to air defense in particular. Therefore, the Allies will go back and look into the inventories, look if there are any ways to provide more systems, in particular Patriots. […] I will not be specific before they are able to conclude," Stoltenberg said.

During the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting, Foreign Minister of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba updated the Allies on Ukraine's short and long-term needs, and on the progress of its reforms, the Secretary General said.

"The situation on the battlefield remains serious. Ukraine needs more air defenses, more ammunition, and more aid. I welcome that the Allies continue to step up with major new announcements. In recent days, this includes nearly EUR 600 million from Germany for the Czech-led artillery initiative. As well as 10,000 drones from the United Kingdom. More missiles and armored vehicles from France. And just yesterday, a new package of aid from Finland worth EUR 188 million. But we need to do even more. And we need to put our support on an even firmer and more enduring basis," Stoltenberg said.

He also said that "fundamentally, NATO Allies have to do two things: first, we need to mobilize more support in the coming days and weeks - that's an urgent need and all the Allies have stepped up. […] But then we also have to another thing. We have to ensure that we are able to establish a stronger and more predictable framework for the long-term support, so that this can continue on a predictable basis, be less dependent on ad hoc voluntary shorter announcements, more dependent on long-term agreed predictable commitments."

"We agreed yesterday to start the planning: SACEUR, our Supreme Allied Commander, has now been tasked to put up a proposal for a framework that will then be some kind of a structure which enables more transparency, more predictability. Of course, this structure should be underpinned with some kind of financial commitment. These are two elements of the same task – have the structure and have the funding. I am not able now to go into more details because we have now started the planning […] and when we have the advice from SACEUR, the we will be able to make more precise decisions," Stoltenberg said.

He also expressed confidence that "if NATO Allies deliver what they should, then I am absolutely confident that Ukraine will be able to make new gains [on the battlefield]."

"And that is the reason why we must deliver more and provide more military support," the Secretary General said.