NATO believes that Russia's war against Ukraine will last at least until 2026
Russia is losing 300 soldiers a day, said the Deputy Secretary General of the Alliance
The war between Russia and Ukraine will last for a long time, as neither side shows that it can win a decisive victory one way or another, NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană said on the air of Digi24, moscowtimes.eu reports.
"My call is to prepare for a long war. There will be no end in 2024 and perhaps not even in 2025. We are expecting a protracted war with small offensives, counter-offensives, with the conquest and loss of territories," he said.
Joane noted that NATO "was overly enthusiastic and optimistic at the beginning of the Ukrainian offensive last spring," but urged not to be pessimistic – according to him, "Ukraine has enough resources to withstand this war and succeed."
"There is absolutely no risk of defeat. Russia is losing 300 soldiers a day, thousands of armored vehicles, hundreds of aircraft. They are not in the best situation," explained Gioane.
He also reminded that the Ukrainians managed to recapture 50% of the territory occupied by the Russians after the full-scale invasion.
"This is not a trifle. Under no circumstances can we allow Russia to return to the border with Romania. We need Ukraine to stand strong," Gioane emphasized.
In this regard, the NATO Deputy Secretary General expressed confidence that the US Congress will approve new financial assistance to Kyiv in the near future. In general, Joan sees the problem not so much in money as in the industrial potential of Western countries that help Ukraine with weapons. According to him, Europe did not expect a conflict of this magnitude after the end of the Cold War.
According to Gioane, Russia's military economy, on the contrary, "meets its current needs," and Putin is also supplied with weapons by North Korea and Iran. In this regard, NATO countries are engaged in an "extremely energetic" conversation with defense companies to persuade them to produce "more and in a shorter time."
"Because we don't just need munitions and artillery, we also need technology, and a lot more," explained Gioane.
The day before, the United States officially confirmed that it had stopped supplying weapons to Ukraine. According to White House National Security Coordinator John Kirby, this was due to the exhaustion of budget funds for such programs.
In October, US President Joe Biden asked Congress to allocate $106 billion for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan. Kyiv was to receive more than half of this money, $61.4 billion. However, lawmakers failed to reach a consensus on this issue and postponed the discussion until January.
Background. As a reminder, the Russian military complains about the poor quality of North Korean shells, calling them "absolute sh*t."
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