The war in Ukraine could last for years, the NATO chief said on Sunday, calling for firm support from Ukraine’s allies as Russian forces fight for territory in the east of the country. UN Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has said the supply of state-of-the-art weapons to Ukrainian troops would increase the chances of liberating the eastern Donbass region from Russian control, the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag reported. After failing to occupy the capital Kyiv at the start of the war, Russian forces have focused their efforts on taking full control of Donbass, parts of which were already held by Russian-backed separatists before the February 24 invasion. “We have to prepare for the fact that it may take years. “We must not give up our support for Ukraine,” said Stoltenberg. “Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, but also because of rising energy and food prices.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who visited Kyiv on Friday to offer training to Ukrainian forces, also said on Saturday that it was important for Britain to provide long-term support, warning of the danger of “Ukraine fatigue” as the war continued. In an opinion article in the Sunday Times in London, Johnson said this meant that “Ukraine is receiving weapons, equipment, ammunition and training faster than the invader.” A man holds his baby inside a bomb shelter at the Azot chemical plant, where people have been hiding from bombings since the beginning of the war, in Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk, Ukraine, on April 16. MARKO DJURICA / Reuters The top target in Moscow’s offensive to seize full control of the Luhansk region – one of the two provinces that make up Donbass – is the industrial city of Sivierodonetsk. Russia said Sunday that its attack on the city was proceeding successfully. The governor of Luhansk, Sergi Gaidai, told Ukrainian television that the fighting had made it impossible to evacuate the city, but that “all Russian claims that they control the city are false. “They control the main part of the city, but not the whole city.” The Russian Defense Ministry said it had taken control of Metolkine, just southeast of Sivierodonetsk, with Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reporting that several Ukrainian fighters had been delivered there. The Ukrainian military says Russia has had “partial success” in the region. Analysts at the Institute for the Study of War, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. in this small area “. In Sievierodonetsk’s twin city of Lysychansk, apartment buildings and private homes were destroyed, Gaidai said. “People are dying on the streets and in bomb shelters,” he added. He later said 19 people had been evacuated on Sunday. In Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, northwest of Luhansk, the Russian Defense Ministry said its Iskander missiles had destroyed weapons recently supplied by Western countries. Russian forces were trying to approach Kharkov, which had been heavily bombed earlier in the war, and turn it into a “front-line town”, a Ukrainian Interior Ministry official said. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov has said he will cancel a planned trip to Madrid to discuss rebuilding the city with Norman Foster and other architects because of the uncertainty caused by the growing bombings. In southern Ukraine, Western weapons helped Ukrainian forces advance 10km into the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, its mayor said in a video posted to the Telegram outside the city. Reuters could not independently confirm the accounts on the battlefield. Russia has said it has launched what it calls a “special military operation” to disarm its neighbor and protect Russian-speaking people there from dangerous nationalists. Kyiv and its allies rejected it as an unfounded pretext for an aggressive war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who gathers citizens with daily videotaped messages, said he had visited forces in the southern part of Mykolaiv, about 550 kilometers (340 miles) south of Kiev. “Their mood is assured: not everyone doubts our victory,” he said in a video Sunday that appears to have been recorded on a moving train. “We will not give the south to anyone and we will take back what is ours.” In the Mykolaiv and Odessa regions, Zelensky said he had heard reports of damage from Russian strikes. “The losses are significant. Many houses have been destroyed. “The logistical support of the citizens has been disrupted,” he said. Ukraine received a major boost on Friday when the European Commission recommended it for candidate status, a decision expected to be approved by EU nations at a summit this week. Although actual accession may take years, Ukrainian Parliament Speaker Ruslan Stefanchuk said the move set a common Ukrainian dream. “Generations have fought for an opportunity to escape from the prison of the Soviet Union and, like a free bird, to fly into European culture,” he said in a statement. Such sentiments run counter to one of the stated goals of Russian President Vladimir Putin when he ordered his troops to enter Ukraine: to keep Moscow’s southern neighbor out of the sphere of Western influence. The Morning and Afternoon Newsletters are compiled by Globe editors, giving you a brief overview of the day’s most important headlines. Register today.
