RUSSIA’S WAR EFFORT A FLOP
Failing in Ukraine, Western leaders say, as Finland & Sweden move to join NATO
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is not going the way the Kremlin had hoped, Western leaders said on Sunday, as two European countries made moves to join the NATO alliance against Russia’s wishes.
Finland’s prime minister said the Nordic country is seeking membership in NATO after Russia’s unprovoked war, and Sweden’s governing party backed its membership bid, which could bring about an application in a matter of days.
On the battlefield, Ukraine said it held off Russian forces in the eastern industrial region of Donbas, and Western military officials said Moscow’s campaign had failed to make the territorial gains it had envisioned.
“Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned. They failed to take Kyiv,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on a video link with the media. “They are pulling back from Kharkiv, and their major offensive in Donbas has stalled. Russia is not achieving its strategic objectives.
“Ukraine can win this war,” Stoltenberg said.
The Russian Army has lost as much as a third of the combat strength it committed to the Ukraine invasion in February and is failing to gain substantial territory, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update on Sunday.
“Under the current conditions, Russia is unlikely to dramatically accelerate its rate of advance over the next 30 days,” the ministry said on Twitter.
In the Donbas, Russian forces over the weekend struck a chemical plant and nearly a dozen high-rise buildings in the city of Siverodonetsk, the regional governor said.
Russian troops also were planning to make another try at crossing the Siverskiy Donets River, after suffering losses two days ago to Ukrainian forces that destroyed a pontoon bridge over the strategically key river in the Donbas, the governor said.
In the southern Donbas, a few hundred Ukrainian troops have refused to surrender and remained holed up in a steel factory in Mariupol, which is largely under Russian control.
The soldiers’ wives held an online news conference on Sunday to call for their release, describing the troops as suffering severe food, water and medicine shortages, and that their untreated wounds were turning septic.
“In my mind, I think there is no chance, but in my heart I feel that we can save them,” said Natalia Zarytska, one of the wives.
On a brighter note, Ukraine emerged the winner Saturday in the Eurovision Song Contest, a popular competition, with the Kalush Orchestra’s song “Stefania,” a popular anthem.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine would follow the custom of the competition’s winner hosting the following year’s contest.
“Step by step, we are forcing the occupiers to leave the Ukrainian land,” Zelenskyy said.
The attack on Ukraine has bolstered unity among NATO members and prompted unaligned countries like Finland and Sweden to seek membership, analysts noted.
Joining NATO would end a legacy of neutrality by Finland, which shares an 830-mile border with Russia.
“When they made a huge attack to Ukraine, that changed quite a lot,” Finland’s President Sauli Niinisto said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It showed that they are ready to attack an independent, neighboring country.
“And what we see now, Europe, the world, is more divided. There’s not very much room for nonaligned, in between,” he said, adding that he did not think, however, that Russia was planning any attack on Finland.
In a telephone call on Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has griped for years about the expansion of NATO, told the Finnish president that joining the alliance would be an “error.”
Their telephone conversation was “calm and cool,” Niinisto told CNN. “The surprise was that he took it so calmly.”
Finland’s parliament is expected to back the decision in the next few days, paving the way for a formal application to be submitted to NATO.
Sweden’s plans were slated for discussion in its parliament on Monday.
Sweden has not belonged to a military alliance since the Napoleonic Wars in the early 1800s, while Finland adopted a neutral stance following World War I.
During a visit Sunday to Sweden, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Finland and Sweden would be “important additions” to NATO.
“I think the United States ought to be first in line to ratify the treaty for both these countries to join,” he said in Stockholm.
McConnell headed up a delegation of Republican senators who made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Saturday to demonstrate support. Joining him were fellow Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, John Barrasso of Wyoming and John Cornyn of Texas.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock echoed McConnell’s sentiment.
“Sweden and Finland, if you’re ready, we’re ready,” she said.
NATO member Turkey, however, has raised concerns about Sweden and Finland joining the alliance, claiming the two countries support Kurdish militants that have waged an insurgency since 1984.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is slated to meet with Turkey’s foreign minister while attending a special UN Security Council meeting this week, said he was optimistic that NATO members would welcome Finland and Sweden.
“I’m very confident that we will reach consensus,” Blinken said after a meeting in Berlin of diplomats from NATO’s 30 member nations.