"We must prepare for the fact that it could take years. We must not let up in supporting Ukraine," he began by saying in an interview published Sunday by Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper. He stressed this should be the case "even if the costs are high, not only for military support, also because of rising energy and food prices."

So it seems Western leaders who have been stoking what is now clearly a Russia-NATO proxy war in Ukraine are now increasingly content to say the quiet part out loud. And it's not even promised to be a momentary or short-lived "cost" for citizens of Europe or America, but years-long sacrifices must be made, we are told.

Stoltenberg explained, as if trying to preempt the expected majority of skeptics, that "the costs of food and fuel are nothing compared with those paid daily by the Ukrainians on the front line." He said further:

If Russian President Vladimir Putin should reach his objectives in Ukraine, like when he annexed Crimea in 2014, "we would have to pay an even greater price," Stoltenberg added.

This warning from Stoltenberg comes not only as Russian forces are steadily advancing over the whole of the Donbas, and amid a general shift in the media narrative strongly suggesting Ukrainian losses are much bigger than previously known,  but as signs of popular pushback and anger among populations in Western countries begin to emerge, as billions of dollars are shoveled into Kiev while people suffer at home amid soaring food and gas prices.