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WORLD NEWS Friday 21 april 2023
NATO chief: Ukraine’s ‘rightful place’ is in the alliance

By LORNE COOK and available” a phrase some
SAMYA KULLAB see as a threat to use nu-
Associated Press clear weapons in response
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — NATO to an attack on its territory if
chief Jens Stoltenberg Ukraine attempts to recap-
defiantly declared Thurs- ture Moscow-occupied ar-
day that Ukraine’s “rightful eas.
place” is in the military al- NATO has no official pres-
liance and pledged more ence in Ukraine and pro-
support for the country on vides only nonlethal sup-
his first visit to Kyiv since Rus- port to Kyiv, but Stoltenberg
sia’s invasion just over a has been the strong voice
year ago. of the alliance throughout
Ukrainian President Volody- the war.
myr Zelenskyy urged Stol- A procession of interna-
tenberg, who has been tional leaders has made
instrumental in marshaling the journey to Kyiv over the
support from NATO mem- last year, and the former
bers, to push for even Norwegian prime minister is
more from them, including one of the last major West-
warplanes, artillery and ar- ern figures to do so.
mored equipment. NATO, formed to counter
The Kremlin has given vari- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg left, talks during a joint press conference with Ukrainian the Soviet Union, has long
ous justifications for go- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 20, 2023. feared being dragged into
ing to war, but repeated Associated Press a wide war with nuclear-
Thursday that preventing ence. “Ukraine’s rightful membership,” he said. battle tanks by early 2024. armed Russia. But as the
Ukraine from joining NATO place is in NATO.” Stoltenberg said he and He added that he expect- West has moved from hesi-
is still a key goal of its in- Zelenskyy said he was Zelenskyy discussed a ed countries to “make new tantly providing helmets
vasion, arguing that Kyiv’s grateful for an invitation to NATO support program for announcements of con- and uniforms to tanks, war-
membership in the alliance a NATO summit in July in Vil- Ukraine. crete military support to planes and advanced mis-
would pose an existential nius, Lithuania, but said his “This will help you transition Ukraine” at a meeting Fri- sile systems, high-level visits
threat to Russia. country needs a roadmap from Soviet-era equipment day in Germany. have become routine.
NATO leaders said in 2008 for becoming a member. and doctrines to NATO The fighting in recent Kremlin spokesman Dmitry
that Ukraine would join “The time has come for standards and ensure full months has become a war Peskov said Thursday that
the alliance one day, and the (alliance’s) leaders interoperability with the al- of attrition, with neither side preventing Ukraine from
Stoltenberg has repeated to define the prospects liance,” Stoltenberg said. able to gain momentum. joining NATO remains one
that promise throughout of Ukraine’s acquisition “NATO stands with you to- But Ukraine has recently of the goals of what Mos-
the war, though the orga- of NATO membership, to day, tomorrow and for as received sophisticated cow calls its “special mili-
nization has established no define the algorithm of long as it takes.” weapons from its Western tary operation.” Speaking
pathway or timetable for Ukraine’s movement to- He noted an announce- allies and is expected to in a conference call with
membership. wards this goal, and to ment Thursday by Den- launch a counteroffensive reporters, Peskov said that
“Let me be clear, Ukraine’s define security guarantees mark and the Netherlands in coming weeks. Ukraine’s accession would
rightful place is in the Euro- for our state for the period that they plan to provide Russian President Vladimir pose a “serious, significant
Atlantic family,” Stolten- of such movement that is, Ukraine with at least anoth- Putin has warned that Mos- threat to our country, to our
berg told a news confer- for the period before NATO er 14 refurbished Leopard 2 cow could use “all means country’s security.” q

Dutch salvage team set to pump oil off rusting Yemen tanker

By MIKE CORDER FSO Safer. A specialist sup- try engulfed for years in kalis “another critical mile- Spill’ operation to transfer
Associated Press port ship, the Ndeavor, is civil war, no annual main- stone of the ‘Stop Red Sea oil” from the FSO Safer.q
AMSTERDAM (AP) — A setting sail Friday to the east tenance has been carried
Dutch salvage company African nation of Djibouti to out on the ship, which is is
has reached agreement prepare for the mission, the 360 meters (1,181 feet) long
with the United Nations company said. with 34 storage tanks, since
to pump oil from a rusting The announcement came 2015. In 2020, internal docu-
tanker off the coast of war- just over a month after the ments obtained by The As-
ravaged Yemen in a move U.N. said it had signed an sociated Press showed that
hailed as a “critical mile- agreement to buy a very seawater has entered Saf-
stone” in moves to avert a large vessel that can hold er’s engine compartment,
possible environmental di- oil pumped off the Safer. causing damage to pipes
saster, its parent company The Japanese-made Safer and increasing the risk of
announced Thursday. was built in the 1970s and sinking. Rust has covered
Boskalis said that its Smit sold to the Yemeni govern- parts of the tanker and
Salvage subsidiary has ment in the 1980s to store the inert gas that prevents
reached agreement with up to 3 million barrels of oil the tanks from gathering
the U.N. Development Pro- pumped from fields in Mar- inflammable gases has
gram to transfer more than ib, a province in eastern leaked out. UNDP Adminis- United Nations Development Programme Administrator Achim
one million barrels of oil Yemen. With the impover- trator Achim Steiner called Steiner speaks to reporters during a news conference, Thursday,
from the decaying tanker ished Arab Peninsula coun- the agreement with Bos- March 9, 2023 at U.N. headquarters. Associated Press