The Russian war against Ukraine is in a "decisive phase," said NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday.

The invading forces would next try to "take the entire Donbass and create a land bridge to occupied Crimea".

It will take "a few weeks" for the Russian troops to be rearranged and armed for this, then there will be a "major offensive".

"During this window of opportunity, it is extremely important that NATO allies provide support so that we are able to supply Ukrainian forces with weapons and equipment," Stoltenberg said.

The Alliance's foreign ministers will have to talk about this when they meet in Brussels on Wednesday evening and Thursday.

Thomas Gutschker

Political correspondent for the European Union, NATO and the Benelux countries based in Brussels.

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The NATO Secretary General did not want to comment more precisely on the weapons aid that is now necessary, even after repeated inquiries.

For operational reasons, it would be better if the allies delivered instead of discussing publicly, he said, speaking generally of "high-quality systems".

Allianz is in a difficult position on this issue.

She wants to stay out of the war, but at the same time she is the platform on which the allies coordinate.

More than two-thirds of the members are now providing "lethal aid," said American Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith on Tuesday.

When the British Ministry of Defense organized a kind of arms conference last week, 35 countries took part.

Among them were close NATO partners such as Australia, who were also invited to the foreign ministers' meeting.

Hints from the Secretary of State

The British were more explicit than Stoltenberg.

The participants pledged to equip Ukraine "with more powerful air and coastal defense systems, with artillery and anti-artillery capabilities, armored and protected vehicles," it said afterwards.

This is all in addition to the anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons that had been delivered in the first few weeks.

For the first time, Kyiv is now to receive heavy weapons and those that can be used for counterattacks.

Indications by the German Foreign Minister fit in with this.

The federal government is now examining a delivery of weapon systems "that we have not previously delivered," said Annalena Baerbock on Monday.

It is also checked "whether technical problems that arose during the delivery and use" of German weapons "cannot be solved after all".

What that means in concrete terms, Baerbock kept to himself.

But the allies will inquire about it in Brussels.

"Why aren't you delivering any tanks?" German diplomats have often been asked in the corridors of NATO in recent days.

At least they were able to point out that the federal government allowed a Czech company to sell 56 tanks from GDR stocks to the Ukraine.

The Bundeswehr had first given them to Sweden and then got to that company;

the export therefore had to be approved by the Federal Security Council.

Germany could possibly also supply used Marder-type armored personnel carriers, which are parked at the manufacturer Rheinmetall;

but they would have to be overhauled first.

The Czech Republic was reported Tuesday as having supplied Soviet T-72 main battle tanks and BVP-1 infantry fighting vehicles to Ukraine.

Czech television showed images of a train loaded with five vehicles of each of these classes.

The Czech defense minister declined to confirm the delivery in parliament but said the government is doing everything it can to help Ukraine with equipment "both light and heavy".

Several former member states of the Warsaw Pact still have vehicles from those times in their depots.

This also applies to the S-300 heavy air defense system.

Slovakia had announced that it would deliver its to Kyiv if the allies protected the airspace for it.

The Bundeswehr is now doing this with Patriots, but one can hear from NATO that

The great advantage of Soviet systems is that the Ukrainians are familiar with this technique.

However, the allies cannot deliver as much as Ukraine captured from the Russians.

According to the website Oryx, which documents Russian losses, the defenders have already caught 218 main battle tanks and 328 armored personnel carriers - some fully functional, some in need of repair.