NATO General: Eastern Sentry focused on Alliance defense, learning from Ukraine’s drone expertise

This was stated by General Alexus Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, during a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at NATO headquarters in Brussels, a Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“As Eastern Sentry is primarily focused on the defense of the Alliance territory, as of right now, I see no conflict between the support that individual nations are providing to Ukraine and what they are offered to contribute to this effort,” Grynkewich explained in response to a question about whether it’s time to integrate NATO and Ukrainian air defense capabilities to act jointly against the same adversary.

At the same time, the General praised Ukraine’s experience and the EU’s initiative to build a so-called drone wall, noting that such methods align with NATO’s intentions.

“This very much aligns with some of our thoughts of fortifying our eastern flank from the land and air domain perspective. I’ve just come back from the Baltics, where a number of states are making investments in technologies learning lessons from Ukraine about what kind of sensors, what kind of weapons, kinetic and non-kinetic, might be effective. So, integrating those sorts of defenses into our daily deterrence activities and into our regional plans is absolutely something we are going to do to move forward,” he emphasized.

Previously, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte announced the launch of Operation Eastern Sentry to strengthen the Alliance’s positions along its eastern flank.

Photo: airandspaceforces.com