Former NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg recounted the tense phone call he received from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in February 2022, when Russian tanks were closing in on Kyiv.

“Zelensky called me from a bunker,” Stoltenberg said. “He asked NATO to close the airspace and stop Russian planes, drones, and helicopters from attacking. He told me, ‘I know NATO can do it — you’ve done it before.’”

But Stoltenberg turned down the request:

Doing so would have triggered a full-scale war between NATO and Russia. We would have had to destroy Russian air defense systems in Belarus and Russia and shoot down Russian aircraft. As President Biden put it at the time, ‘We will not risk a third world war for Ukraine.’

He added, “It was excruciating to end that call, knowing Zelensky’s life was in danger.”

“NATO’s Contradictory Goals Left Ukraine Alone”

Having led NATO from 2014 to 2024, Stoltenberg described the alliance’s early response to the invasion as conflicted.

“On February 24, 2022, we took two decisions — to increase support for Ukraine and to prevent the war from spreading beyond Ukraine,” he said. “Those goals were inherently contradictory. If our sole aim had been to ensure Ukraine’s victory, we would have sent troops and aircraft. But we avoided that to prevent a direct NATO-Russia war.”

Stoltenberg argued that had NATO provided stronger military aid to Ukraine after the 2014 annexation of Crimea, Putin might have been deterred from launching a full-scale invasion.

Our support came too late and too little. We were afraid to provoke Russia — yet Russia invaded anyway.

“Afghanistan Was NATO’s Biggest Defeat”

Stoltenberg also reflected on the fall of Kabul to the Taliban in 2021, calling it “NATO’s greatest failure.” In his new memoir, On My Watch, he recalls Afghanistan’s former vice president telling him, “You failed us.”

“We wanted a free, democratic Afghanistan,” Stoltenberg said. “But after 20 years, we learned that building such a society by military means was simply too difficult and too ambitious. Yes, it’s painful to see girls barred from school, but withdrawing was the right decision.”

“Under Trump, NATO Came Close to Collapse”

Stoltenberg revealed that during the 2018 NATO summit, then–U.S. President Donald Trump considered pulling the United States out of the alliance.

At that moment, I feared I would be the secretary-general who witnessed the end of NATO. But we reached a compromise — European allies pledged to increase defense spending. They did so, and that kept the alliance together.

“We Must Change Putin’s Calculus”

Now serving as Norway’s finance minister, Stoltenberg emphasized that the only way to bring Russia to the negotiating table is by strengthening Ukraine militarily.

We can’t change Putin’s mind — he wants to control Ukraine. But we can change his calculus. If the price he pays becomes too high, he may sit down to talk. Zelensky has offered ceasefire talks, but Putin has rejected them. We must make Ukraine stronger on the battlefield.

Stoltenberg noted that Norway has tripled its military support to Ukraine since he took office as finance minister.

“We’re now providing €7 billion in direct aid, most of it military,” he said. “With just five million people, Norway ranks among the top contributors globally, both per capita and in absolute terms.”

“Only Ukraine Can Decide Its Peace Terms”

On potential peace concessions, Stoltenberg said the decision rests solely with Kyiv.

“In the end, it’s up to Ukraine whether to accept something like Finland did in 1940, when it ceded 10 percent of its territory to Stalin,” he said. “Our task is not to advise Ukraine — our task is to support it.”