Kiev, 20 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) - NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg arrived in Kiev on Thursday, a NATO spokesman told dpa, in his first visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February last year.

Stoltenberg honoured fallen Ukrainian soldiers at the outer wall of the central St. Michael's Monastery.

Other engagements during his visit were not publicly announced. NATO sources said that planned meetings would be kept secret for security reasons.

Since the beginning of Russia's war, Stoltenberg has been considered a tireless supporter of Ukraine and has continuously argued for new arms deliveries to the Ukrainian armed forces.

Stoltenberg is due to attend a US-led meeting of countries supplying arms to Ukraine at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday.

"NATO will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," Stoltenberg said in early April.

Stoltenberg has invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the upcoming NATO summit in Lithuania.

The summit in the Lithuanian capital will the held on July 11-12. It is still unclear whether Zelensky will attend the gathering.

One topic discussed in Vilnius will be increasing military spending of NATO members.

NATO allies have a self-imposed pledge of spending 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) defence, but only a few members meet the target.

In 2022 only seven of the alliance's then 30 members spent more than 2%, despite an increase in real terms following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"In a more dangerous world, allies increasingly see 2% of gross domestic product spent on defence as a floor and not a ceiling," Stoltenberg wrote in NATO's annual report published in March.

The Russian invasion also prompted an expansion of NATO, with Finland recently completing its application process, and Sweden hoping to join before the July summit.

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