Kyiv: As air raid sirens sounded in Ukraine for the first time this week, NATO allies pledged on Tuesday to provide Kyiv with more weapons and equipment to help restore the country's power and heat that has been fueled by Russian missiles and drones. was cut off from the attacks.
Despite the all-clear later across the country, Ukrainians fled for bomb shelters. Russian forces bombarded Ukrainian positions in the eastern part of the Donetsk region with artillery, mortar and tank fire.
NATO foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, began a two-day summit in Bucharest to discuss strategies for keeping Ukrainians safe and warm as well as maintaining Kyiv's armed forces during the upcoming winter campaign.
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On the eve of a NATO summit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba listed various Western air defense systems: "We need air defense, IRIS, Hawks, Patriots, and we need transformers (for our energy needs)". In short, what Ukraine most needs are transformers and patriots.
Dmitry Medvedev, a former Russian leader, urged NATO not to equip Ukraine's "fanatics" with Patriot missiles, labeling the organization a "criminal entity" for doing so.
As Moscow's forces continue to lose ground on the battlefield, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that Russian President Vladimir Putin was "trying to use winter as a weapon of war."
NATO ministers reaffirmed a 2008 decision that Ukraine would eventually join the alliance and in a statement condemned Russia's "relentless and unconscionable attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure". However, it did not reveal any timeline or specific actions that would bring it closer to NATO.
Officials from the US and Europe said that in addition to discussing military aid, the ministers would focus on non-lethal aid such as fuel, medical supplies and winter equipment during their talks.
Washington announced it would provide $53 million to buy equipment for the power grid. Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis urged his NATO counterparts to make a political decision to send contemporary battle tanks to Ukraine to give that country a military advantage over the Russian army. Western powers have been reluctant to take this step for fear of provoking a direct conflict with Russia.
Since October, Russia has been launching massive attacks on Ukraine's heating and electricity infrastructure on a weekly basis, which Kyiv and its allies claim is a deliberate campaign to harm civilians and a war crime. .
Moscow claims that while it does not intend to harm civilians, Kyiv will only be able to end their suffering if Moscow's unstated demands are met. Despite Kyiv's claims that it shot down most of the incoming missiles, the damage is mounting and the effects are becoming more severe with each attack.
In an effort to undermine Kyiv's air defenses, a senior US military official claimed on Tuesday that Russia was launching unarmed cruise missiles with nuclear warheads at targets in Ukraine.
The worst bombing ever took place on 23 November, plunging millions of Ukrainians into darkness and cold. Earlier this week, President Volodymyr Zelensky warned Ukrainians to soon anticipate another that would be at least as damaging.
Political negotiations to end the war are non-existent. Moscow has annexed Ukrainian territory, which it has vowed never to give up. Ukraine has vowed to fight until it regains all of the territory it has lost.
Kyiv announces that it wants the weapon to help win the war and ends it. Concrete action speaks louder than the most beautiful speech. Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the president, tweeted: "'Patriot' for Ukraine, 'F-16' or 'Leopard', referring to US anti-aircraft missiles and fighters and German tanks.
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This week, Russia abruptly canceled planned nuclear talks with the United States. Moscow claimed that since Washington would not address its wider concerns about strategic stability, it was left with no choice but to call off talks with the intention of resuming inspections under the arms control treaty.
Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov was quoted by Russian news agencies as warning Washington of unspecified risks as a result of Kyiv's support for what Moscow called a "special military operation" to disarm its neighbor. was referenced.
We are warning Americans that continuing on their current path of escalation and ever-increasing involvement in this conflict could have disastrous consequences. According to Ryabkov, the risks are increasing.
As millions of people in and around the capital city of Kyiv struggled to heat their homes, snow was falling and the temperature was close to freezing.
The national grid operator Ukrenergo reported that despite a week of efforts to restore power following the most recent attacks, the system was still 30 percent underpowered.
Russian forces in the Donetsk region are still concentrating their efforts on capturing the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, according to a statement from Ukraine's military general staff on Tuesday evening. According to the report, a Russian missile strike on Lyman resulted in one death and three injuries.
According to the General Staff, nine strikes by Ukrainian aircraft were made against Russian service members and equipment, mostly in the southern central Zaporizhzhia region.
It also stated that Russian forces are bolstering their defences and continuing their artillery assaults in the southern Kherson and Kriviy Rih regions, including on the city of Kherson, which Ukraine recently reclaimed.
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After intense Russian bombardment, 50% of Kherson city had electricity restored, according to Kherson regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych.
For the first long winter of the war, both sides will have to keep their troops fed and healthy in cold, wet trenches; this will be more difficult for the Russians as an invading force with longer and more vulnerable supply lines.