my guest is nato secretary—generaljens stoltenberg.re internal divisions undermining nato's ukraine response? secretary—generaljens stoltenberg, at nato headquarters in brussels, welcome to hardtalk. thank you so much for having me, stephen. it's a pleasure to have you on the show. i've got to begin with the stinging comments just a couple of days ago from ukraine's foreign minister, dmytro kuleba, who said that nato had in effect done nothing to help ukraine. what's your response to that? so, first, i would like tojust say that i have great respect for the government, the political leadership, president zelensky, prime minister, kuleba and ukrainian people for what they are able to demonstrate, their courage and unity, standing up against the russian putin—led invasion of ukraine. nato allies and nato have supported ukraine for many years. since 2014, tens of thousands of ukrainian troops have been trained and especially the united states, canada, the united kingdom and turkey has provided also training and critical equipment, which i

the alliance's secretary generaljens stoltenberg has described the move, which amounts to the abandoningment, as historic, while president putin, talking about finland, described the plan as a mistake. the north atlantic treaty organization was created back in 1949 by 12 countries, including the us, the uk, canada and france. after the soviet union's collapse in 1991, many former eastern bloc countries joined nato, and it now numbers 30 member states. finland, which has a border of more than 1,300 kilometres with russia, and sweden would bring that number to 32, and would more than double nato's land border with russia. our europe correspondent, nick beake, reports. they claim vladimir putin's war has brought them closer together and made them stronger. now the nato family is set to get bigger. america's top diplomat, back in europe, said the support for ukraine is for the long term. every member of the alliance wants to bring this war to an end as soon as possible. but we're equally determined to maintain our security assistance to ukraine, to continue our sanctions, export controls and

the alliance�*s secretary generaljens stoltenberg has described the move — which amounts to abandoningir military non—alignment — as "historic" while president putin described the plan as "a mistake". one person is dead and four others critically wounded when a gunman opened fire at a church in california. he's later overpowered. it comes just a day after a gunman killed ten people in a suspected racially—motivated terror attack at a supermarket in the city of buffalo. now on bbc news, dateline. hello and welcome to the programme, which brings together the foreign correspondents who write, blog and broadcast for audiences back home from the dateline — london. it's been a convention—busting week, this one — a queen's speech delivered for the first time in 70 years by a royal other than the queen. two countries strictly neutral for 80 years, preparing to take sides. in northern ireland, a party in favour of reuniting the island of ireland topped the poll for the first time in the centuries since ireland was partitioned. to discuss all that and more, in the studio are brian 0'connell, for

the alliance's secretary—generaljens stoltenberg has described the move as historic, while presidentt finland, described the plan as a mistake. let's just remind ourselves of what nato is — the north atlantic treaty organization — a military alliance which was formed in 1949 by 12 countries, including the us, the uk, canada and france. after the soviet union's collapse in 1991, many former eastern bloc countries joined nato. now finland, which has a border of more than 1,300 kilometres with russia, and sweden want tojoin. sweden's prime minister magdalena andersson said russia's invasion of ukraine fundamentally changed security. we are now facing a fundamentally changed security environment in europe, and while we navigate in this new environment, the fundamental question for us is "how do we best protect sweden?" and the kremlin has shown that they are prepared to use violence. i'm joined now by kurt volker, former us ambassador to nato in 2008 until 2009, and was special representative for ukraine negotiations between 2017 and 2019. it is great to get you on the programme. in the

the alliance�*s secretary generaljens stoltenberg has described the move, which amounts to abandoningheir military non—alignment, as historic, while president putin, described the plan as a mistake. one person is dead and four others critically wounded when a gunman opened fire at a church in california. he's later overpowered. it comes just a day after a gunman killed ten people in a suspected racially motivated terror attack at a supermarket in the city of buffalo. now on bbc news, nick robinson in conversation with people who influence our political thinking about what has shaped theirs. hello, welcome to political thinking. a relaxed conversation, not a news interrogation with someone who shapes our political thinking about what has shaped theirs. now not since the creation of what used to be called the ministry of fun, rather more boringly these days, it's called the department of digital, culture, media and sport. not since then have we had a secretary of state who is actually claimed to be able to contribute to the culture. not any more, nadine dorries has written 15 novels. sh

let's hear a little more from the nato secretary generaljens stoltenberg, at that news conference a littleuld be a historic moment. this would be an historic moment. their membership in nato would increase our shared security, demonstrate that nato's door is open, and that aggression does not pay. today, allies discussed our strong support for ukraine, the further strengthening of nato's deterrence and the longer term implications of the war, including our future stance towards russia. russia's war in ukraine is not going as moscow had planned. they have failed to take kyiv. they are pulling back from around kharkiv. their major offensive in donbas has stalled. russia is not achieving its strategic objectives. president putin wants ukraine defeated, nato down, north america and europe divided. but ukraine stands, nato is stronger than ever, europe and north america are solidly united. let's get some more analysis on this now. we can now connect to elisabeth braw, a senior fellow at the american enterprise institute specialising in defense, she joins us from washington dc. hello to you. we