NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned in an interview that Russia’s war in Ukraine could take years. Emphasizing continued support for Ukraine, the British Prime Minister also announced a four-pronged plan on how London and its allies could best support Ukraine.
“We have to prepare for the fact that the war may take years,” Stoltenberg told the German weekly Bild am Sonntag, according to trends. We should not hesitate to support Ukraine, even at a high cost.
He added: “This support is not limited to the military and in the military field, but goes beyond that and includes support for energy and food prices.”
Stoltenberg added that the supply of the latest weapons to Ukrainian forces increases the chances of liberating the Donbas region from Russian control.
NATO leaders are set to meet in Madrid later this month to decide whether to send a bailout package to Ukraine. Stoltenberg had previously said that the NATO summit in Madrid was expected to approve an aid package to Ukraine that would help the country equip itself with standard NATO equipment.
England
At the same time, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on Western allies to prepare for a protracted war in Ukraine. “Prepare for a long war in Ukraine,” Johnson told his Western allies in a statement returning from an unannounced trip from Kiev.
The British prime minister warned Western countries that they could increase support for Kiev by warning that the conflict in Ukraine might be prolonged. He warned that Ukraine should not be encouraged to accept a “bad peace” because it was merely a prelude to a new Russian offensive.
The British prime minister said the West should continue to support the Ukrainians as they seek to retake Russian-held territory, indicating that it would be a “catastrophe” if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeded.
According to Johnson, Vladimir Putin’s attack “enters a new phase” and if the Russians’ advance is successful, “his work will not stop at the fragmentation of Ukraine.”
He also wrote for the Sunday Times a four-part plan on how Britain and its allies could best support Ukraine.
“I’m afraid we have to prepare for a long war, because Johnson is resorting to an erosive campaign and trying to destroy Ukraine with sheer savagery,” Johnson said. Britain and our friends must respond by making sure that Ukraine has the strategic stamina to survive and ultimately win. It all depends on whether Ukraine can strengthen its ability to defend its territory faster than Russia. Our task is to turn time in Ukraine’s favor.
Looking beyond the attack, he warned that if Russia succeeded in seizing Ukrainian territory, “no nation will be safe anywhere” because “every dictatorship dares to pursue its ambitions by force.”
To prevent this, the first step of the British Prime Minister’s plan is to ensure that Ukraine “receives weapons, equipment, ammunition and training more quickly than the aggressor.” He said London planned to work with its allies to train a maximum of 10,000 troops every 120 days to support Ukraine.
Boris Johnson describes the second phase as providing “continuous financial and technical assistance” to the besieged country in order to maintain its infrastructure and institutions. The third step is to develop alternative land routes to overcome the Russian siege on ports, including in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa.
The British prime minister said that 25 million tons of corn and wheat had been taken hostage by Russia and that the fourth step in the plan was to free the reserves. According to him, this can be achieved by supporting UN efforts to negotiate an export corridor by sea.
The British Prime Minister also said that Ukraine should be the next host of the Eurovision Song Contest, despite the fact that the organizers are trying to transfer it to Britain due to security concerns during the war. According to Johnson, Ukraine, which won the pop singing competition this year, deserves to host the competition. He said he was confident that this could be done in 2023.