Putin Has No Peace Plans, We Must Prepare for Prolonged Conflict: Stoltenberg

Russian President Vladimir Putin currently has no plans to establish peace in Ukraine, and therefore the West must prepare for a prolonged conflict and be ready to provide lethal aid to Kyiv for a long time, warned NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in an interview with The Guardian.

“President Putin is not planning for peace; he is planning for more war,” Stoltenberg continued, adding that Russia is increasing its defense industrial production and “turning to authoritarian regimes like Iran or North Korea, among others, to try to get more weapons.”

As a result, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and other Western countries must be prepared to support Ukraine with weapons, ammunition, and spare parts for a long time. “The necessity will continue to exist, as this is a war of attrition; it’s a matter of industrial capacities to sustain support,” said the Secretary General of the alliance.

Currently, the fighting is so intense that Ukraine is using 4,000 to 7,000 artillery shells daily against Russia’s use of 20,000, which surpasses the production capabilities of Western countries, Stoltenberg stated. “The current pace of ammunition expenditure is higher than the current level of production,” Stoltenberg elaborated.