NATO warns of long Ukraine war as battles grind on

• NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg calls on partners to be unwavering in their support for Ukraine.
• Russian soldiers are battling Ukrainian troops for control of the country’s eastern Donbas region.
• Boris Johnson warns of the possibility of “Ukraine weariness” as conflict drags on.

KYIV – The war in Ukraine might go for years, according to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who called on Ukraine’s partners to be unwavering in their support as Russian soldiers battle for land in the country’s east.

According to Germany’s Bild am Sonntag newspaper, UN Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that providing state-of-the-art weaponry to Ukrainian troops would increase the chances of releasing the country’s eastern territory of Donbas from Russian control.

Following their failure to conquer Kyiv early in the war, Russian forces have concentrated their efforts in recent weeks on gaining complete control of the Donbas, which was already under the authority of Russian-backed rebels prior to the Feb. 24 invasion.

“We need to plan for the possibility that it will take years.” “We must not relent in our support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.

“Even if the expenses are significant, not only in terms of military support, but also in terms of growing energy and food expenditures.”

Boris Johnson, who visited Kyiv on Friday with an offer of training for Ukrainian forces, said on Saturday that it is critical for Britain to provide long-term support, warning of the possibility of “Ukraine weariness” as the conflict drags on.

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According to Johnson, this means ensuring that “Ukraine receives weaponry, equipment, ammunition, and training more quickly than the invader” in an opinion piece published in London’s Sunday Times.

“Everything will hinge on Ukraine’s ability to increase its ability to defend its soil faster than Russia’s ability to renew its offensive capabilities,” he wrote.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy of Ukraine said he had visited troops in a number of locations, including the southern Mykolaiv region, which is around 550 kilometres (340 miles) south of Kyiv.

“I spoke with our defenders – the military, the police, and the National Guard,” he said in a video posted to the Telegram messaging app on Sunday that looked to be shot on a moving train.

“Their spirits are high: they are all confident in our win,” Zelenskiy remarked. “We will not give the south to anyone, and we will reclaim everything that is ours.”

THE FIGHT FOR SIEVIERODONETSK
The Ukrainian military said the eastern industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, which was a key target in Moscow’s offensive to retake full control of Luhansk – one of the two provinces that make up the Donbas – was hit by heavy artillery and rocket fire once more.

“Russian forces will certainly be able to conquer Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks,” analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington think tank, wrote in a note, “but at the cost of concentrating most of their available forces in this tiny area.”

“All Russian statements that they control the town are a lie,” said Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, on Ukrainian television. They have control of the central business district, but not the entire town.”

Residential buildings and private dwellings have been demolished in the twin city of Lysychansk across the river, Gaidai claimed on the Telegram messaging app, adding, “People are dying on the streets and in bomb shelters.”

“The enemy has partial success in the village of Metolkine,” just southeast of Sievierodonetsk, according to Ukraine’s military.

According to a source working for Russian-backed rebels, numerous Ukrainian fighters surrendered in Metolkine, according to Russia’s state news agency TASS.

According to a Ukrainian interior ministry spokesman, Russian forces attempting to reach Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, planned to transform it into a “frontline city.”

In the first two months of the war, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, was heavily shelled.

After being targeted by three Russian missiles, a fuel storage station in Novomoskovsk, northeast of Dnipro, burst on Sunday, killing one person and injuring two others, according to the regional administration leader in an online post.

The combat accounts could not be independently verified by Reuters.

Russia has announced the commencement of a “special military operation” to disarm and safeguard Russian speakers throughout the country from dangerous nationalists. That was regarded by Kyiv and its supporters as a spurious justification for an aggressive conflict.

On Friday, the European Commission proposed that Ukraine be granted candidate status, a decision that EU states are poised to support at a conference this week. It could take years for you to become a member.

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