NATO urged to prepare for a protracted war

NATO Deputy Secretary General Mircea Gioane believes that the alliance should prepare for a prolonged Russian war against Ukraine. He said this in an interview with the Romanian TV channel Digi24.

According to Joane, Russia has become on the rails of war economy, while North Korea and Iran are either promising or already sending Russia weapons for a war against Ukraine.

"I just as some of us may have thought at the beginning of the war that the Russians would take Kiev in a fortnight, we said, 'No, Ukraine has the capability to resist,' but also maybe we had too much enthusiasm, optimism at the beginning of the Ukrainian offensive a few months ago last spring," the Alliance's deputy secretary-general added.

He noted that everything points to the fact that the Russian Federation is set for a long war, and Kiev's victory is not yet in sight.

It will not happen in 2024, probably not in 2025. We don't see the military capability anywhere to be able to win a decisive victory one way or the other. We expect a protracted war with small offensives, counter-offensives, conquest and loss of territory," he said.

Mircea Joane added that NATO and the USA intend to continue supporting Ukraine. At the same time, he noted that there are problems of industrial capacity, mainly in Europe.

However, work is being done in this direction, including in accordance with the military production action plan adopted in Vilnius," he pointed out.

At the same time, the NATO deputy secretary-general warned against excessive pessimism because Ukraine has enough resources to be successful in the war.

With our support, the Ukrainians managed to regain 50 per cent of the territory originally occupied by the Russians. This is no small thing. Under no circumstances can we accept Russia returning to the border of Romania. We need Ukraine to stand firm, Moldova to come to Europe, Georgia to come to Europe," Mircea Joane said.