Ukraine war 'could last yrs'

BERLIN, June 19 (BBC/AFP): The West must prepare to continue supporting Ukraine in a war lasting for years, Nato's chief has warned.
Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said the costs of war were high, but the price of letting Moscow achieve its military goals was even greater.
His comments came as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson also warned of the need to brace for a longer-term conflict.
Both Mr Stoltenberg and Mr Johnson said sending more weapons would make a victory for Ukraine more likely.
"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.
"Even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices."
The Western military alliance chief said that supplying Ukraine with more modern weapons would increase its chances of being able to liberate the country's eastern Donbas region, much of which is currently under Russian control.
Ukrainian attack kills
5 civilians in Donetsk
Five civilians were killed and 12 injured in a Ukrainian bombardment of the eastern separatist city of Donetsk, local authorities said on Saturday.
"As a result of the bombardment by Ukrainian forces, five people were killed and 12 others were wounded in the Donetsk People's Republic," the local authorities said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Donetsk is the de facto capital of the self-proclaimed Donetsk republic, in the Donbas coal region located in eastern Ukraine.
Partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014, the region has been the subject of fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces who launched an offensive in Ukraine on February 24.
Ukraine repulses
Russian attacks
Ukrainian troops repulsed Russian attacks on villages near the eastern city of Severodonetsk, where the two armies have fought bloody battles for weeks, Kyiv's armed forces said Sunday.
"Our units repulsed the assault in the area of Toshkivka," the Ukrainian army said on Facebook. "The enemy has retreated and is regrouping."
It said Russian forces were "storming" towards the village of Orikhove, but that it had "successfully repulsed" an assault near the village.
A day earlier, officials said fierce battles were taking place in settlements outside Severodonetsk, which they say is mostly, but not entirely, under Russian control.