NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is optimistic and expects the Ukrainian armed forces to advance in the fight against Russian troops, but in an interview with the dpa agency, he warned that progress will be difficult, Agerpres notes.
“We must be ready for a long war. Wars are unpredictable by their very nature,” Stoltenberg told dpa during a visit to Berlin.
“We know that what happens at the negotiating table is inextricably linked to the situation on the battlefield,” he added.
On the morning of February 24, 2022, Russian troops invaded the territory of Ukraine in several directions. Since then, Moscow has annexed four territories from the east and south of Ukraine, violating international law, dpa reminds. Fighting is still concentrated in the east and south. Ukrainian forces launched a counteroffensive earlier this year, but progress has been limited. Kyiv has promised to return all territory occupied by Russia, including the Crimean peninsula, which the Kremlin annexed in 2014.
Only military support can help Ukraine
In an interview, Jens Stoltenberg estimated that only military support can guarantee that Ukraine will remain a sovereign and democratic state, and will be able to convince Russian President Vladimir Putin that he cannot win on the battlefield.
The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, said last week that the war in Ukraine has reached a stalemate.
“The transition of the war into a positional phase leads to its prolongation and poses significant risks both for the armed forces of Ukraine and for the state as a whole,” warned Zaluzhny in an article published in the British magazine The Economist.
The NATO Secretary General emphasized in an interview on Friday that it was always clear that it would not be easy.
“I knew that Russia had been preparing defensive lines for months – with me, with tank trenches, with many defensive positions,” Stoltenberg explained.
However, the Ukrainians “were able to achieve success and liberate more territory,” he added.
The head of NATO during a meeting with the leaders of Germany
Jens Stoltenberg met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday, and was supposed to meet with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Friday.
The NATO secretary general welcomed Germany’s military support for Ukraine, while avoiding a clear position on whether the German government should supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles, which Kyiv had requested but which Scholz had not agreed to.
“Ultimately it is a national decision which systems each ally will provide,” he said, noting that he welcomed the fact that Britain and France had already provided cruise missiles.
Stoltenberg recalled that Germany supplied Ukraine with other important weapons, including tanks and effective air defense systems.
Source: Hot News
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