Ukraine updates: NATO foreign ministers meet

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said it was too early and "inappropriate" to discuss the deployment of German troops as part of a possible peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

It was "out of the question that we would send troops or German soldiers to Ukraine in the current situation," he said, pointing to continued and intense fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

Scholz's comments came after German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock's statements on the sidelines of a NATO meeting in Brussels triggered media speculation.

Asked about a possible future multinational peacekeeping force in Ukraine, Baerbock said: "We will of course also support everything that serves peace in the future with all our strength from the German side."

Some interpreted the statement as leaving the door open to German participation in such a hypothetical force.

But Scholz stressed that Baerbock was speaking about "what might happen in a future post-war period and was trying to avoid saying yes or no."

“It was totally inappropriate for us to speculate on what might happen after a negotiated ceasefire," the chancellor said.

Ukraine needs to get younger people — those aged between 18 and 25 — to join its military ranks in the fight against Russia, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

Having people on the battlefield, on top of ammunition and weapons, was key to success, he noted.

"These are very hard decisions," Blinken told Reuters in Brussels where he's attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers. "But, for example, getting younger people into the fight, we think, many of us think, is necessary. Right now, 18-25 year olds are not in the fight."

More than two-and-a-half years since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian military has been facing a manpower shortfall due to exhaustion and a lack of enough well-trained reserves.

But President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's administration has so far resisted drafting those aged under 25.

The crew of a Russian ship in the Baltic Sea shot signal ammunition at a German military helicopter, the DPA news agency reported.

The helicopter had been on a reconnaissance mission.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock briefly mentioned the incident on the sidelines of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

But she did not provide any details. Reuters cited a German Defense Ministry spokesperson saying the situation could not be confirmed.

Baerbock said that there are often ships in the Baltic Sea that are involved in bypassing Western sanctions imposed after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The use of signal ammunition such as flares usually happens during emergency situations.

NATO members have agreed that providing air defense systems to protect Ukraine's infrastructure against Russian attacks has to be a priority, said Mark Rutte, the alliance’s secretary-general.

His statement came after the bloc’s foreign ministers held a meeting with their Ukrainian counterpart on Tuesday evening.

"There was a clear agreement around the table last night that to help Ukraine, particularly with its infrastructure, has to be a priority," Rutte told reporters on Wednesday.

"I’m confident that allies will follow up in the coming days and weeks in making sure that whatever they can supply to Ukraine will be supplied."

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he will urge his NATO colleagues to increase military support for Ukraine during the NATO foreign ministers' meeting on Wednesday.

"This support is critical to enabling Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression, and the UK and allies must double down on our efforts to ensure Ukraine prevails," he underlined, speaking ahead of his first NATO foreign ministerial meeting.

"Investment in Ukraine's security is investment in Euro-Atlantic and global security," he added.

Lammy also blamed Russia for numerous conflicts worldwide.

"We are living in dangerous times," said Lammy.

"And as we look across the world with war here on our continent in Europe, with the tremendous aggression that we are seeing across the Middle East with the hand of Iran so present in the Middle East and with this rising conflict in Sudan and now in Syria, there is one country with its hand in so much of it, and that is Russia," he added.

NATO members will have to provide guarantees so that peace in Ukraine can be guaranteed, Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said.

"If we want to have peace in Ukraine, we will have to supply security guarantees. There is no cheaper way for security guarantees than NATO's article 5," he said.

"The war will only be settled on the battlefield. It is an illusion to say we are unable to supply Ukraine with what it needs," he added.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for major reinforcement of sectors in eastern Ukraine where Russian forces have made advances in recent months.

Zelenskyy was speaking in his nightly video address after talks with the country's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi.

He said much depended on Ukraine's Western allies providing vital weaponry in a timely manner.

"The Donetsk directions require significant reinforcement. This particularly involves the supply of weapons from our partners," Zelenskiy said.

"It's a direct relationship: The greater our army's firepower and technological capabilities, the more we can destroy Russia's offensive potential and protect the lives of our soldiers."

Foreign ministers from the 32 NATO member states are meeting in Brussels to discuss continued support for war-ravaged Ukraine, among other things.

This is the last high-level meeting of the military alliance’s members before US President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House in January.

Ukraine's hopes for a membership invitation, however, are unlikely to be fulfilled at this gathering, according to diplomats, as there’s no indication that the bloc’s members have agreed to such a decision.

"It will take weeks and months to get consensus," a senior NATO diplomat, on the condition of anonymity, told Reuters news agency on Monday. "I don't see that happening tomorrow, I would be very surprised."

sri/rc (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)