“We have to be prepared for this to last for years.” In an interview published Sunday, June 19 by the German daily Picture, the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg to evoke the scenario of a conflict which lasts. “We must not falter in supporting Ukraine, even though the costs are high, not only in terms of military support but also due to rising energy and food prices,” he said, urging Western countries to sustain their support for kyiv and to continue their arms deliveries. “With additional modern weapons, the likelihood of Ukraine being able to repel the troops of [Vladimir] Donbass Putin would increase”he assured. “These costs are nothing compared to that paid daily by Ukrainians at the front”, judged the head of the Atlantic Alliance. Follow our live.
Volodymyr Zelensky in the south of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited the forces containing the Russian offensive in the south of the country on Saturday. According to the presidency, he moved to the troops in the regions of Mykolaiv and Odessa, in the coastal strip of the country coveted by Moscow on the shores of the Black Sea, in order to thank the soldiers who are containing the thrust of the Russian troops, supported at east from the annexed Crimea, for their “heroic service”.
Fierce fighting in the East. Fierce fighting is raging near Sievierodonetsk in the Donbass region. “An expression says: you have to prepare for the worst and the best will come by itself”said Saturday in an interview with AFP Serguiï Gaïdaï, governor of the Lugansk region, which notably houses the cities of Severodonetsk and Lyssytchansk. “Of course we have to prepare”added the one who has repeatedly warned that the Russians would end up encircling Lyssytchansk by cutting off its main supply routes. “The situation is difficult in the city [de Lyssytchansk] and throughout the region”he pointed out, because the Russians “bombard our positions 24 hours a day”.
The risk of a global “food catastrophe”. Westerners accuse the Russian authorities of threatening the world with famine and of exploiting cereals as they do with hydrocarbons. “Russia has turned the Black Sea into a war zone, blocking grain and fertilizer shipments from Ukraine” while applying “quota” to its own exports on Saturday denounced the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, accusing Moscow of “blackmail”. “It is imperative to allow the resumption of Ukrainian exports by boat”to avoid a “world food disaster”he added.