Ukraine should anticipate more military equipment from Western countries soon, NATO said Sunday, as Russian President Vladimir Putin lauded his soldiers after their claimed takeover of a Ukrainian town.
A Russian missile strike launched last weekend on an apartment building in the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro has caused the deaths of at least 40, authorities reportedly said Monday. The reported fatalities thus far mark the single deadliest attack on Ukrainian civilians since before summer of 2022, according to the Associated Press.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg indicated that more heavy weapons are headed Kiev’s way after it asked its allies for vehicles, artillery, and missiles it claims are essential for the fight against Russia.
“The recent pledges for heavy warfare equipment are important — and I expect more in the near future,” Stoltenberg said to Germany’s Handelsblatt daily.
The NATO secretary general has asserted that “Guns are the way to peace.”
“It is a paradox, but it is a brutal reality,” he said as he urged for Ukraine to receive more support.
'Guns are the way to peace. It is a paradox, but it is a brutal reality,' says NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg as he called for more support for Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/TX0VitEBfS
— Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil (@ivan_8848) January 9, 2023
Recently, Russia announced it had captured Soledar, a salt-mining outpost in eastern Ukraine that reportedly housed 10,000 prior to the war’s beginning.
“There is a positive dynamic, everything is developing according to plans,” Putin said during an interview published Sunday. “I hope that our fighters will please us more than once again.”
The nation’s defense ministry says it has “completed the liberation” of Soledar.
Meanwhile, Ukraine has rejected these claims by Russia, insisting that fighting has continued in the region.
This assertion by Ukraine is not shared by the US-based Institute for the Study of War, which reportedly stated Sunday that “Ukrainian forces are highly unlikely to still hold positions within the settlement of Soledar itself.”
The Norwegian Stoltenberg has argued that an effort to stop U.S. money from going to Ukraine would empower China, and thus believes that American taxpayer money should continue to be sent.
“[A Russian win would] be bad for all of us in Europe and North America, in the whole of NATO, because that will send a message to authoritarian leaders — not only Putin but also China — that by the use of brutal military force, they can achieve their goals,” Stoltenberg reportedly said to Politico.
