- NATO’s Stoltenberg says the war could last for years
- Allies must show that they will support Ukraine in the long run – Johnson
- Ukraine admits the setback to the village near Sievierodonetsk
- “Everything that is ours we will recover” -Zelensky
- Two Azovstal defense commanders moved to Russia for the -TASS probe
Kyiv, June 19 (Reuters) – War in Ukraine could last for years, NATO chief said on Sunday as Russia intensified its attacks after the European Union recommended that Kyiv become a candidate to join. on the blog.
Jens Stoltenberg said the supply of state-of-the-art weapons to Ukrainian troops would increase the chances of freeing his eastern Donbas region from Russian control, the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported. Read more
“We have to prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not stop supporting Ukraine,” said Stoltenberg, the secretary general of the military alliance.
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“Even if the costs are high, not only because of military support, but also because of rising energy and food prices.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited Kyiv on Friday, also spoke of the need to prepare for a long war.
This meant making sure that “Ukraine receives weapons, equipment, ammunition and training faster than the invader,” Johnson wrote in an opinion piece in the Sunday Times of London.
“Time is the vital factor,” he wrote. “It will all depend on whether Ukraine can strengthen its ability to defend its soil more quickly than Russia can renew its ability to attack.”
Ukraine received a significant boost on Friday when the European Commission recommended it for candidate status, a decision that EU nations are expected to approve at a summit this week. Read more
This would put Ukraine on the right track to realizing an aspiration that was considered out of reach before the Russian invasion on February 24, even though accession could take years.
INTENSIFIED ATTACKS
Russian attacks intensified on the battlefields of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military says the industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, a major target of Moscow’s offensive to take full control of Luhansk, one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas, has once again faced artillery. heavy and rocket fire.
“Russian forces will probably be able to seize Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the expense of concentrating most of their available forces in this small area,” wrote analysts from a Washington-based think tank. Institute for the Study of War. in a note.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor-appointed Luhansk governor of Ukraine, told Ukrainian television: “All the Russian claims that control the city are a lie. They control the main part of the city, but not the whole city.”
In the twin city of Lysychansk, across the river, Gaidai told the Telegram messaging app that residential buildings and private homes had been destroyed, adding: “People are dying in the streets and shelters. anti – aerodic “.
The Ukrainian army acknowledged that “the enemy has a partial success in the village of Metolkine” in southeastern Sievierodonetsk.
Russia’s state news agency TASS said many Ukrainian fighters had surrendered to Metolkine, citing a source who worked for Russia-backed separatists.
Russian missiles hit a gas plant in the northwestern Izyum district, and Russian rockets raining on a suburb of Kharkiv, the second largest city, hit a municipal building, causing a fire, but no casualties, Ukrainian authorities said.
A fuel storage depot in the eastern city of Novomoskovsk exploded on Sunday, killing one person and injuring two, after being hit by three Russian missiles, the head of the regional administration said in a message on line. Read more
Reuters was unable to independently confirm battlefield accounts.
Two top commanders of fighters defending the Azovstal steel plant in the southeastern port of Mariupol have been transferred to Russia to investigate, TASS said. Read more
ZELENSKIY DESAFANT
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose challenge has inspired his people and gained worldwide respect, said he had visited soldiers on the southern front in the Mykolaiv region, about 550 km (340 miles) south of Kyiv.
“I spoke to our defenders: the military, the police, the National Guard,” he said Sunday in a video on the Telegram messaging app that appeared to have been recorded on a moving train.
“His mood is assured: not everyone doubts our victory,” Zelenskiy said. “We will not give the south to anyone, and we will recover everything that is ours.”
Another video showed Zelenskiy in his khaki T-shirt, handing out medals and posing for selfies with the military. Read more
Zelensky has remained mostly in Kyiv since Russia invaded, although in recent weeks he has made unannounced visits to Kharkiv and two eastern cities near battles. Read more
One of the stated goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin in ordering troops in Ukraine was to halt the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Alliance and keep Moscow’s southern neighbor out of the sphere. influence of the West.
But the war, which has killed thousands, reduced cities to rubble, and made millions flee, has had the opposite effect – convincing Finland and Sweden to try to join NATO – and helping to pave the way for to Ukraine’s candidacy for the EU.
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Reuters office reports; Written by David Brunnstrom and Clarence Fernandez; Editing by Grant McCool and William Mallard
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