NATO Leader Voices Concerns About Ukraine Situation Amid Speculation of Confidential Negotiations at High Levels
Veteran journalist Seymour Hersh reports that private talks are now underway between Russian and Ukrainian military commanders.
NATO should brace for “bad news” coming out of Ukraine, Jens Stoltenberg, secretary-general of the Western military alliance, has said.
“Wars develop in phases,” Mr. Stoltenberg told Germany’s ARD public broadcaster in a Dec. 3 interview.
“We have to support Ukraine in both good and bad times,” he said.
“We should also be prepared for bad news,” the NATO chief added without elaborating.
Mr. Stoltenberg’s cryptic remarks come amid increasingly frequent reports of Russian battlefield gains, especially in and around the flashpoint town of Avdiivka.
Located in the eastern Donetsk region, Avdiivka sits roughly 30 miles south of Bakhmut, which fell to Russian forces in May after nine months of fierce fighting.
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Last week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy conceded that a months-long Ukrainian counter-offensive had failed to make significant headway.
“We wanted faster results,” Mr. Zelenskyy said in an interview with the Associated Press on Dec. 1.
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Speaking at a summit of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Mr. Lavrov asserted: “We aren’t seeing any signs from Kyiv or its masters [i.e., its Western allies] that they are ready for any kind of political settlement.”
Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
