NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned that the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging against Ukraine will not end anytime soon.
“Most wars last longer than expected when they start,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with the German Funke media group published on Sunday. “That’s why we have to prepare for a long war in Ukraine.”
“We all want a quick peace,” said Stoltenberg. “At the same time, we have to recognize that if [Ukrainian President Volodymyr] Zelensky and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country will no longer exist. When President Putin and Russia stop fighting, we will have peace.”
Ukraine’s Security Council chief Oleksiy Danilov said in an opinion piece published Saturday evening that the only way to end the war is for Kiev’s allies to speed up arms deliveries. “Refusing or delaying the delivery of modern weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces is a direct encouragement for the Kremlin to continue the war, and not the other way around,” Danilov said.
Meanwhile, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Ukrainian military continued its counteroffensive and launched drone strikes on Crimea and Moscow on Sunday. The attacks disrupted air traffic and caused a fire at an oil depot.
In southwestern Russia, a Ukrainian drone damaged an oil depot early Sunday and started a fire at a fuel tank that was later extinguished, the regional governor said. Another drone was shot down in the Voronezh region of Russia.
According to the Ukrainian military, Russian missiles also hit an agricultural facility in the Odessa region of Ukraine on Sunday.
Meanwhile, two cargo ships arrived at a Ukrainian port after taking a new route through the Black Sea, Ukrainian port authorities said. They reached Chornomorsk at the weekend and were scheduled to load 20,000 tons of wheat for the world market, the BBC reported. Officials said it was the first time civilian ships had reached a Ukrainian port since the collapse of a grain deal with Russia that would ensure the safety of ships.
Separately, the International Court of Justice – the United Nations’ highest court – will on Monday hear Russia’s objections to a case brought by Ukraine, which argues Russia is violating international law by claiming the invasion was justified over an alleged genocide to prevent. Portal reports that the hearings are scheduled to last until September 27.