Russia-Ukraine live news: NATO chief says Ukraine can win the war | Russia-Ukraine war News

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned as Russia pummels positions in the east of Ukraine.

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned and calls for more military support.
• Russia pummels positions in the east of Ukraine as it seeks to encircle Ukrainian forces in the battle for Donbas.
• Finland announces its intention to seek NATO membership, hours before Sweden’s governing party backed a plan to join the trans-Atlantic alliance.

Here are the latest updates:

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17 mins ago (20:51 GMT)

Ukraine says Russia attempting to encircle its forces in Donbas

Russia is pummelling positions in the east of Ukraine, its defence ministry has said, as it seeks to encircle Ukrainian forces in the battle for Donbas and fend off a counteroffensive around the strategic Russian-controlled city of Izium.

Russia said it had struck Ukrainian positions in the east with missiles, targeting command centres and arsenals as its forces seek to surround Ukrainian units between Izium and Donetsk.

Ukraine’s Joint Forces Task Force said its troops had repelled 17 attacks and destroyed 11 pieces of Russian equipment while its air defences shot down two Russian helicopters and five drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the situation in Donbas remained very difficult and Russian forces were still trying to salvage some kind of victory in a region riven by conflict since 2014. “They are not stopping their efforts,” he said.

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21 mins ago (20:47 GMT)

NATO chief says Ukraine can win the war, calls for military support

At a meeting in Germany, the head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) said Ukraine could win the war, calling for more military support and fast-track approval of expected bids by Finland and Sweden to join the alliance.

“Russia’s war in Ukraine is not going as Moscow had planned,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.

An assessment by British military intelligence found Russia had lost about a third of the ground combat force deployed in February. Its Donbas offensive had fallen “significantly behind schedule” and was unlikely to make rapid advances during the coming 30 days, the assessment said.

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Hello and welcome to Al Jazeera’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Read all the updates from Sunday, May 15 here.