9/17/2023-|Last update: 9/17/202304:07 AM (Mecca time)
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg – in an interview published on Sunday – ruled out the possibility of a quick end to the Ukrainian war, at a time when Kiev continues to launch its counterattack against Russia.
“Most wars last longer than expected when they first start,” Stoltenberg said – in an interview with the German “Funke” media group – “so we have to prepare ourselves for a long-term war in Ukraine.”
The Russian war in Ukraine began in February 2022, and Kiev launched a counterattack starting last June on the sites that Russia seized in the south and east of the country, but the progress it achieved was limited.
“We all hope for a quick peace,” Stoltenberg said, adding, “But at the same time we must realize that if President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainians stop fighting, Ukraine will cease to exist.” He continued, “But if President Vladimir Putin and Russia lay down arms, then we will have peace.”
Stoltenberg stressed, “When this war ends, we will need security guarantees for Ukraine, otherwise history may repeat itself.”
Russia announces the dropping of marches
On the other hand, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said that Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Istra region in Moscow, noting that – according to preliminary information – there is no damage or injuries in the place where the wreckage of the plane fell.
The governor of the Russian Kursk province announced that a civilian was killed in a Ukrainian army bombing of a village in the province.
The Russian Ministry of Defense also announced that Russian air defense systems destroyed 4 Ukrainian drones over the northwestern and eastern coasts of the Crimean Peninsula.
Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014, a move that was met with widespread global condemnation.
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2023-09-17 00:51:54
