NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg pledges ‘military support’ claims ‘Ukraine can win war’ against Russia

Ukraine has been granted a potential lifeline, with NATO pledging military support while vowing the nation can defeat the Russian invaders.

NATO pledged open-ended military support for Ukraine on Sunday, as Finland hailed its “historic” bid to join the alliance in a move that has angered Russia.

At a Berlin meeting of foreign ministers, Germany’s Annalena Baerbock said NATO would provide military assistance “for as long as Ukraine needs this support for the self-defence of its country”.

“Ukraine can win this war. Ukrainians are bravely defending their homeland,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg added.

The NATO promise of military support came as Western intelligence claimed that Russia has suffered huge military losses in Ukraine and that it will get bogged down in the strategic east because of stiff local resistance.

Meanwhile, Russia announced air strikes in the east of Ukraine, as well as in the western city of Lviv, near the Polish border, which has largely been spared Russian attacks.

The comments from the NATO chief came as the Nordic country of Finland jettisoned decades of military non-alignment to stand against Russia. It was a move that redrew the balance of power in Europe.

Neighbouring Sweden’s ruling party said it was also in favour of joining NATO just hours after Finland’s announcement, in a remarkable turnaround in political and public opinion following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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A woman cries during a rally in front of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office in Kyiv. Picture: Sergei Supinsky/AFP

Mr Stoltenberg said the alliance would look to provide both with interim security guarantees while the applications are processed, including possibly by increasing troops in the region.

In Berlin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he heard “almost across the board, very strong support” for the bids, despite misgivings from Turkey.

Ankara has accused both Sweden and Finland of harbouring Kurdish extremists, however Mr Stoltenberg said NATO was not blocking their membership and was confident of finding common ground.

The Kremlin insists the Nordic nations have nothing to fear, but in apparent retaliation, has pulled the plug on electricity supplies to Finland, with which it shares a 1300km border.

Meanwhile, away from the conflict, Ukraine had a boost to local morale as it was announced the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest.

‘Lost momentum’

On the battlefield, Russia’s defence ministry claimed it had carried out “high-precision” missile strikes on four artillery munitions depots in the Donetsk area in the east of Ukraine.

Air strikes had also destroyed two missile-launching systems and radar, while 15 Ukrainian drones were taken out around Donetsk and Luhansk, it added.

Ukrainian infantrymen train near Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine. Picture: John Moore/Getty Images

In Lviv, the regional governor, Maksym Kozytsky, said four Russian missiles hit military infrastructure near the border with Poland.

No casualties were reported and Ukrainian armed forces said they destroyed two cruise missiles over the region.

Lviv was last hit by Russian missiles on May 3.

UK defence chiefs said Russia’s offensive in the eastern Donbas region had “lost momentum”.

Demoralised Russian troops had failed to make substantial gains and Moscow’s battle plan was “significantly behind schedule”, UK Defence Intelligence said.

“Russia has now likely suffered losses of one-third of the ground combat force it committed in February. Under the current conditions, Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days.”

Exact, reliable casualty figures have been hard to come by, with Ukraine and Russia regularly publishing claims of enemy dead.

Kyiv says its troops have killed nearly 20,000 Russian troops. Back on March 25, Moscow said its forces had killed at least 14,000 Ukrainian military personnel.

But both figures are widely suspected to be inflated, and have not been verified by independent conflict monitors.

The Kremlin said in late March that some 1351 of its troops had been killed. A senior NATO military official estimated at the same time that between 7000 and 15,000 Russian soldiers could have been killed in the fighting up to that point.

Eastern push

Russia has increasingly turned its attentions to eastern Ukraine after failing to capture Kyiv.

Western leaders have predicted a drawn-out war of attrition stretching into next year.

But Ukrainian commanders have been more upbeat about the situation and expect a turning point in the conflict by August.

In the city of Severodonetsk, Russia has been trying to cross a river to encircle it, but have been repelled, with heavy losses of equipment, according to the governor of the Luhansk.

Local officials in Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv in the north have said Russian troops were withdrawing from the surrounding region, and Ukrainian forces were counterattacking.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky addresses a press conference with international media in an underground metro station in Kyiv. Picture: Genya Savilov/AFP

Ukrainian troops have been fighting a rearguard battle from a network of underground tunnels and bunkers in the bowels of a steelworks in the devastated southern port city of Mariupol.

Families of the estimated 600 troops still holed up at the vast Azovstal plant have appealed to China to intervene to secure the release of the dead and wounded, with one father saying: “China has a big influence on Russia and on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin personally. We ask for him to intervene.”

The United Nations and Red Cross helped to evacuate women, children and the elderly from the plant whey there were sheltering earlier this month.

Petro Andryushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of the city, said on Telegram that a “huge convoy” of 500 to 1000 cars had arrived in the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Eurovision win

Meanwhile, war-battered Ukrainians had something to celebrate with the country’s win in the Eurovision song contest.

“It’s a small ray of happiness. It’s very important now for us,” said Iryna Vorobey, a 35-year-old businesswoman, adding that the show of support from across Europe was “incredible”.

“I’m very glad,” said Andriy Nemkovych, a 28-year-old project manager. “This win is so very good for our mood.”

The Kalush Orchestra won with the song Stefania, a rap lullaby combining folk and modern hip-hop rhythms.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the group, whose lyrics about home took on extra poignancy with six million Ukrainians currently displaced outside the country.

But some were lukewarm about the win.

“Now, it’s not the most important thing,” said Vadym Zaplatnikov, 61, who insisted that “having Crimea back” would be a much more welcome announcement.