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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
Photo:
OLIVIER HOSLET v EPA
The war in Ukraine is increasingly turning into a war of attrition.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have now appealed to the country's allies not to let up in their support of the country against Russia's war of aggression.
In an op-ed for The Sunday Times newspaper, Johnson wrote that Kiev's supporters must ensure that Ukraine "has the strategic endurance to survive and eventually win."
Stoltenberg told the "Bild am Sonntag" that the war "could last for years."
"We must not let up in supporting Ukraine," Stoltenberg said.
Rising energy and food prices as a result of the Russian war of aggression are "no comparison to the price that the Ukrainians have to pay every day with many lives."
If Russian President Vladimir Putin learns from the war "that he can simply carry on as he did after the 2008 war in Georgia and the occupation of Crimea in 2014," then the NATO states would pay "a much higher price."
However, Stoltenberg also emphasized that the western defense alliance would not intervene in the fighting.
"We are helping the country, but we will not send NATO soldiers to Ukraine," he said.
British Prime Minister Johnson wrote in his article published online late Saturday evening that time was "now the decisive factor".
Everything will now depend on “whether Ukraine strengthens its defense capability faster than Russia renews its attack capability”.
It is the task of the allies to "ensure that time plays for Ukraine".
Johnson sets up a four-point plan
In his contribution, Johnson formulated a four-point plan for "sustainable financial and technical assistance" for Ukraine.
Parts of it should be retained and possibly strengthened "for the coming years".
Johnson expressly warned against permanently accepting Russian territorial gains in Ukraine.
Allowing Russian President Putin to do this will not make the world more peaceful.
Johnson wrote verbatim: "Such a farce would be the greatest victory for an aggressor in Europe since World War II."
On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the front line in southern Ukraine for the first time since Russia's war of aggression began.
An official video showed Zelenskyy inspecting a badly damaged regional administration building in Mykolaiv on Saturday.
Mykolaiv is an important military target for Russian troops.
The capture of the city would open the way to Odessa, the main Ukrainian port city.
Mykolayiv is also not far from the Cherson region, which is completely under the control of Russian troops.
Meanwhile, fighting continued unabated in eastern Ukraine's Donbass.
Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk reported five civilians dead and 12 wounded by Ukrainian artillery fire.
Donetsk is the capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk Republic.
The governor of the Ukrainian Donbass sub-region of Luhansk, Serhiy Hajday, warned of a further escalation of the Russian warfare in the region.
"It's good that the West is helping us, but it's too late," Hajdaj told the AFP news agency in an interview.
In view of the Russian attacks, there are "no longer any safe places" in the Luhansk region.
Hajdaj demanded that Western countries supply "long-range" weapons that "had to arrive quickly."
NATO boss Stoltenberg expects that further deliveries of weapons from the West could decisively change the course of the war.
He told the "Bild am Sonntag" that additional "modern weapons" would increase the probability "that Ukraine can drive Putin's troops out of the Donbass again".
asc/AFP