WAR IN UKRAINE: June 19, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 119
The war in Ukraine could last for years according to NATO’s chief, reports BBC. The West must prepare to continue supporting Ukraine. Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the costs of war were high, but the price of letting Moscow achieve its military goals was even greater. “We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine," the Nato chief said in an interview with German newspaper Bild.
Writing in the Sunday Times, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused Russia's Vladimir Putin of resorting to a "campaign of attrition" and "trying to grind down Ukraine by sheer brutality." "I'm afraid we need to steel ourselves for a long war," he wrote. "Time is the vital factor. Everything will depend on whether Ukraine can strengthen its ability to defend its soil faster than Russia can renew its capacity to attack."
Videos of two American military veterans who went missing in Ukraine appeared on Russian television on Friday. Russian network RT reported that Andy Huynh, 27, and Alexander Drueke, 39, were still alive but held captive by Russian forces in the Donbas. My analysis: if the two Americans are indeed in the hands of the Russian-backed combatants in the Donbas, then they face very inhumane treatment based on their previous track records of torturing journalists and dissidents. The Russian side will regard them as high value prisoners and use them as bargaining chips. Negotiations will be protracted and difficult.
“Russia is trying to make Kharkiv a front-line city," Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the interior minister, has told Ukraine's national television.
Institute for the Study of War: Russia makes ‘marginal gains’ near Sievierodonetsk, stall offensives elsewhere. The U.S. think tank reported on June 18 that Russian forces are likely dealing with “mounting losses and troop and equipment degradation,” including challenges with troop morale and discipline. This may slow down progress in other axes of advance. Russian forces are also reportedly trying to repel Ukrainian forces from artillery range of railway networks near Kharkiv, which are used to supply Russian advances towards Sloviansk - Kyiv Independent
Ukraine may resume talks with Russia in August, Voice of America reports. Lawmaker David Arakhamia, Ukraine’s chief negotiator with Russia, told Voice of America that Ukraine may resume talks with Russia at the end of August after conducting several counterattacks.
As President Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine reaches the four-month mark, there have also been notable shifts in how both sides may be assessing the so-called nuclear "red lines." Read this analysis by the CBC’s London-based correspondent Chris Brown.
