Putin‘s war in Ukraine has been a ‘dismal’ failure but victory for Russia would make the world more dangerous, the NATO chief has said.
Putin’s ‘year of failures’ was caused by two strategic blunders, Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO argued.
He says the Russian leader underestimated both the strength and feeling of the Ukrainian civilians and the preparedness of the country’s allies to support them.
NATO’s long-standing support for Ukraine included training tens of thousands of troops and supporting the reform of the armed forces, Mr Stoltenberg emphasised.
Jens Stoltenberg, the head of NATO, said Putin had made two strategic blunders when he invaded Ukraine early this year. He said a Russian victory would be a ‘catastrophe’ for Ukraine and would make the world a more dangerous place
Russia have accused the US of starting a proxy war after President Zelensky was hosted in Washington DC this week. He won an extra $1.8billion aid package
Writing in the Financial Times, Mr Stoltenberg emphasised that ‘what happens at the negotiating table is inextricably linked with what happens on the battlefield.’
He added that a Russian victory would encourage them to use more violent force in the future.
‘If Putin prevails in Ukraine, the message to Russia — and to other authoritarian regimes — will be that force will get them what they want. This would be a catastrophe for Ukraine. But it would also make the whole world more dangerous, and all of us more vulnerable.’
His remarks come as Moscow has accused the US of engaging in a ‘proxy war’ against Russia by hosting Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Washington DC.
The Ukrainian president delivered a historic speech to a joint congress session yesterday to a standing ovation after he was escorted by NATO spy planes and fighter jets in a cloak-and-dagger operation from Europe.
The wartime leader also secured an extra $1.8billion in aid and the Patriot missile defence system from Joe Biden as he rallied support from the West against Putin‘s savagery.
President Zelensky met with US President Joe Biden at the White House, where he presented him with a medal from a Ukrainian soldier who asked for it to be given to President Biden
The Ukrainian President is pictured boarding his flight in Poland as he travels to Washington
But today, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘We can say with regret that so far neither President Biden nor President Zelensky have said even a few words that could be perceived as potential readiness to listen to Russia’s concerns.
‘Not a single word was heard warning Zelensky against the continued shelling of residential buildings in towns and villages in Donbas and there were no real calls for peace,’ Peskov said.
‘This suggests that the United States is continuing its line of de facto fighting an indirect war with Russia to the last Ukrainian,’ he added.
President Zelensky travelled to the US to request more support from NATO, triggering Russia to bolster its own war arsenal with 350,000 troops, nuclear combat readiness and more units based in its west.
Putin has lost a staggering amount of military equipment, with more than 3,000 tanks, 5,981 armoured combat vehicles and 1,978 artillery systems destroyed.
A further 283 aircraft, 267 helicopters, 653 cruise missiles and 16 ships have been blitzed in the brutal conflict.
Kyiv have claimed that Vladimir Putin’s mounting death toll has passed the grim milestone of 100,000 soldiers.
But the authoritarian dictator has warned that he will do whatever necessary to continue the conflict.
Russian-linked officials have been the targets of a series of attacks across occupied Ukraine.
A pro-Russian official was killed by a car bomb in an occupied village in southern Ukraine on Thursay, Moscow-installed authorities said.
The explosion reportedly claimed the life of Andrii Shtepa in Lyubimovka village.
A picture posted online purportedly showed the burning wreckage of a car on a street in the village, with thick black smoke pouring into the air. According to reports, Shtepa burned alive in his vehicle.
According to Ukrainian website ‘Life of War’, Russian-born Shtepa was appointed the head of Lyubimovka village on July 18. It says he was born in Russia, but had been living in Ukraine
A picture posted online purportedly showed the burning wreckage of a car on a street in the village of Lyubimovka, with thick black smoke pouring into the air. According to some reports, village leader Andrei Nikolayevich Shtepa burned alive in his vehicle
Lyubimovka is located on the eastern side of the Dnipro river, which has been under Russian occupation for months
‘Today Andrei Nikolayevich Shtepa, a sincere patriot of his native land, died tragically as a result of a car explosion,’ pro-Russian authorities said on Telegram, blaming ‘Ukrainian terrorists’ for the man’s death.
The Life of War website says he had been a local resident for the last 15 years, and that he worked on a local communal farm. It also notes that he ‘unsuccessfully ran for the post of village head’ in the past, before the Russian occupation.
Russian-born Shtepa was appointed the head of Lyubimovka village on July 18. It says he was born in Russia, but had been living in Ukraine for a ‘long time’ before the invasion began in February.
It was also reported on Thursday that the former head of Russia’s space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, was injured by shelling in Donetsk, a Russian-controlled city in eastern Ukraine. He said he will require surgery for the injury.