NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that the war that Russian President Vladimir Putin is waging in Ukraine will not end anytime soon.
“Most wars last longer than expected when they first started,” Stoltenberg said in an interview with German media group Funke. published Sunday. “That’s why we have to prepare for a long war in Ukraine.”
“We all want a quick peace,” Stoltenberg said. “At the same time, we must recognize that if (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelensky and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country no longer exists. If President Putin and Russia stop fighting, we will have peace.
Head of the Ukrainian Security Council Oleksiy Danilov in an opinion piece posted on Saturday night, said the only way to end the war is if Kiev’s allies speed up arms deliveries. “Refusing or delaying the transfer of modern weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces is a direct encouragement to the Kremlin to continue the war, not the other way around,” Danilov said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military continued its counter-offensive, with drone strikes on Crimea and Moscow on Sunday, according to Russian Ministry of Defense. The attacks disrupted air traffic and caused a fire at an oil storage facility.
A Ukrainian drone in southwestern Russia damaged the oil storage A fuel tank fire started early on Sunday, which was later extinguished, the regional governor said. Another drone was shot down in Russia’s Voronezh region.
On Sunday, Russian missiles also hit agricultural equipment in Ukraine’s Odesa region, according to Ukrainian army.
Meanwhile, two cargo ships arrived at a Ukrainian port after transiting the Black Sea using a new route, Ukrainian port authorities said. They arrived in Chornomorsk at the weekend and were supposed to load 20,000 tons of wheat bound for world markets, the BBC reported. Officials said yes First civilian ships have arrived at a Ukrainian port since the collapse of a grain deal with Russia ensuring vessel safety.
Separately, the International Court of Justice – the UN’s top court – will hear Russian objections to a case brought by Ukraine on Monday, which says Russia is abusing international law when it says the invasion was justified to prevent alleged genocide. Reuters reports that the hearings will last until September 27.
