NATO's Jen Stoltenberg makes surprise visit to Kyiv

April 29 (UPI) -- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a surprise visit to Kyiv on Monday that help was on the way after a winter that saw Russia make incremental advances in its invasion of its neighbor.

Stoltenberg, acknowledging delays by the United States and other allies in getting additional aid to Ukraine, said the country fought valiantly in limiting successes by Moscow and will now have a chance to turn their fortunes around.

"Ukraine has been outgunned for months ... fewer Russian missiles and drones have been shot down and Russia has been able to push forward on the front line," Stoltenberg said in his comments. "But it is not too late for Ukraine to prevail. More support is on its way."

The visit marked Stoltenberg's third visit to Ukraine since Russia's invasion of the country in February 2022. Zelensky said NATO's interest in Ukraine is natural seeing the threat of Russia pushing its sphere of influence forward.

Zelensky said the arrival of new batteries of Patriot missiles proved critical in making current Russian bombardments less effective.

"We'll be waiting for the deliveries to come," Zelensky said. "We were assured that there won't be any intermissions as regards additional Patriot batteries. It's hard to say that we have heard anything specific, but some initial steps have already been made."

The lack of Patriot missiles and other artillery have proven critical for Ukraine. Russia was able to capture the key city of Avdiivda in February due to the lack of Ukraine firepower. More recently, Ukrainian troops were forced to retreat from the Donetsk Oblast villages of Berdych, Semenivka and Novomykhailivka this month.