'More death, more suffering, more destruction' to come in Ukraine: NATO chief

By Agnes Szucs

BRUSSELS (AA) - The NATO chief said on Friday that he expects worse days to come in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Speaking at a news conference following the extraordinary meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Jens Stoltenberg warned that “more death, more suffering, and more destruction” is yet to come in the Russia-Ukraine war.

He reiterated NATO’s calls on Russia “to stop this war immediately, withdraw all his forces from Ukraine without conditions and engage in genuine deployment diplomacy.”

Stoltenberg stressed that “NATO's relationship with Russia has fundamentally changed for the long term” since the country launched the “worst military aggression in Europe for decades” and seeks to set a new norm in the world order.

He stressed that the recent developments lead to a choice “whether democracy or autocracy prevails, and ultimately what sort of world we want to live in.”

Since Russia's war on Ukraine began on Feb. 24, it has been met by outrage from the international community, with the EU, UK, and US implementing a range of economic sanctions on Russia.

Last week, NATO decided to activate its defense plans enabling it to deploy capabilities and forces more easily in the alliance territory.

According to UN figures, 249 civilians have been killed and 553 injured in Ukraine since the start of the war. Ukrainian authorities, however, put the death toll at over 2,000.