- NATO’s Stoltenberg says the war could last for years
- Allies must show they will support Ukraine in the long run – Johnson
- Ukraine concedes a backlash in a village near Sievierodonetsk
- “Everything that belongs to us, we take back” – Zelenskiy
Kyiv, June 19 (Reuters) – The war in Ukraine could last for years, the NATO chief said on Sunday, calling for unwavering support from Ukraine’s allies while Russian forces fight for territory in the east of the country.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said supplying state-of-the-art weapons to Ukrainian troops would increase the chance of liberating the eastern Donbass region from Russian control, German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported. Continue reading
After failing to capture the capital, Kyiv, earlier in the war, Russian forces have focused in recent weeks on trying to gain complete control of the Donbass, parts of which were already under the control of the Donbass prior to the February 24 invasion Russian-backed separatists.
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“We have to be prepared for the fact that it can take years. We must not let up in our support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg was quoted as saying.
“Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, but also because of rising energy and food prices.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited Kyiv on Friday with a training bid for Ukrainian forces, also said on Saturday it was important for Britain to provide long-term support and warned of the risk of “Ukraine fatigue” during the war drags on. Continue reading
In an opinion piece in London’s Sunday Times, Johnson said this means ensuring that “Ukraine gets arms, equipment, ammunition and training faster than the invader”.
“Everything will depend on whether Ukraine can strengthen its ability to defend its soil faster than Russia can renew its attacking capability,” he wrote.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had visited troops in several locations, including in the southern Mykolayiv region, some 550 km (340 miles) south of Kyiv.
“I spoke to our defenders – the military, the police, the National Guard,” he said in a video on news app Telegram on Sunday that appeared to have been taken on a moving train.
“Your mood is secure: none of you doubts our victory,” Zelenskyy said. “We will not give the South to anyone, and everything that is ours we will take back.”
FIGHT FOR SIEVIERODONETSK
The eastern industrial city of Sievierodonetsk, a key target in Moscow’s offensive to seize full control of Luhansk – one of the two provinces that make up Donbass – once again faced heavy artillery and rocket fire, the Ukrainian military said.
Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based think tank, wrote in a note that “Russian forces will likely be able to take Sievierodonetsk in the coming weeks, but at the expense of concentrating most of their available forces on it small area”.
Serhiy Gaidai, the governor of Luhansk, told Ukrainian TV: “All Russian claims that they control the city are a lie. They control most of the city but not the whole city.”
In the sister city of Lysychansk across the river, apartment buildings and private homes have been destroyed, Gaidai said on the Telegram messaging app, adding, “People are dying on the streets and in bomb shelters.”
The Ukrainian military said “the enemy partially succeeded in the village of Metolkine”, south-east of Sievierodonetsk.
Russia’s state news agency TASS said many Ukrainian militants surrendered in Metolkine, citing a source working for Russian-backed separatists.
Russian forces attempting to approach Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, wanted to turn it into a “frontline city,” an official at Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said. Continue reading
Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was heavily shelled during the first two months of the war.
A fuel depot in Novomoskovsk, northeast of Dnipro, exploded on Sunday, killing one person and injuring two, after being hit by three Russian missiles, the regional administration chief said in an online message. Continue reading
Reuters could not independently confirm the battlefield reports.
Russia has said it has launched a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbor and protect Russian speakers there from dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and its allies dismissed this as a baseless pretext for a war of aggression.
Ukraine received a significant boost on Friday when the European Commission recommended it candidate status, a decision EU nations are expected to endorse at a summit this week. Actual membership could take years. Continue reading
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Reporting from Reuters Bureaus Written by David Brunnstrom, Clarence Fernandez and Aidan Lewis Editing by Grant McCool, William Mallard and Frances Kerry
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