KIEV: Ukraine's prime minister has called for Patriot missile batteries and other state-of-the-art air defense systems to defend against Russian attacks that have cut off electricity and water for millions of Ukrainians, prompting Europe to prepare for floods.

According to Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal, Russia wants to flood Europe with new Ukrainian refugees by continuing attacks on power plants and other infrastructure, in addition to inflicting suffering on the people of Ukraine.

Poland's president claimed that as a result of these attacks and the icy conditions in Ukraine, there is already a greater need for refugee accommodation in his country.

Also Read: US and allies promise to use all available means to combat North Korea

"There are currently about 3 million refugees living in Poland. After talks with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Berlin, Polish President Andrzej Duda said that this would increase their population in Germany as well.

Following Russia's invasion on 24 February, millions of Ukrainians fled their country. Thousands have died and dozens of cities and towns across Ukraine have been reduced to ruins during a war that is now in its tenth month. On Monday, Russian shelling once again mainly targeted eastern and southern regions that Vladimir Putin illegally annexed.

Shmyhal reiterated Ukrainian requests for Patriot surface-to-air missiles, a highly sophisticated system, to defend against additional attacks. He also requested more German and French air defense systems, supplies of artillery shells and contemporary battle tanks in an interview with LCI that aired Sunday night.

More than 45 countries and 20 international organizations are expected to participate in a conference starting Tuesday in Paris to raise funds and organize aid for Ukraine's water, electricity, food, health and transportation needs during the challenging winter. hopefully.

If provided with the Patriot missiles, there would be a significant improvement in the types of air defense systems being sent by the West to help Ukraine defend against Russian airstrikes. They have not yet been introduced by either nation, and doing so would likely escalate conflict with Russia.

US officials have said they were considering sending Patriot missile batteries to Ukraine. However, Pentagon Press Secretary, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder recently informed reporters that there were no plans to send the sophisticated, high-tech system.

Also Read: A Man with a Mission: Tanvir Logani

We'll keep having those conversations, he said. None of these systems are plug-and-play, he continued. You can't just enter a war zone and start using them.

Additionally, air security figured in a phone conversation between US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday. According to Zelensky's office, Biden was informed that "about 50% of Ukrainian energy infrastructure had been destroyed."

As part of his security assistance, Biden "highlighted how the US is prioritizing efforts to strengthen Ukraine's air defenses, including $275 million in additional ammunition and equipment on December 9". announced, including systems to counter Russian use of unmanned aerial vehicles." the White House said.

Over the weekend, Russian drone strikes near the Black Sea port of Odessa destroyed several energy facilities and left all customers without power except for hospitals, maternity homes, boiler plants and pumping stations.

On Monday, the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Mirjana Spoljeric, returned from a four-day trip to Ukraine, which also included Odessa. "I saw how families have been separated," she claimed, "and how power outages and freezing temperatures have added to the suffering for so many during this difficult winter."

European Union foreign ministers met Monday in Brussels to talk about new sanctions to further punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

Ireland's Foreign Minister Simon Coveney strongly condemned the "deliberate targeting of civilians by Russia in order to cause widespread civilian suffering". Russia's actions were, in his words, "crimes both in terms of aggression and a

Slovakia, in cooperation with Germany, announced the opening of a facility for the repair of Ukrainian weapons with Western roots. The center is located inside a military installation in the city of Mikhalovce, about 35 kilometers (22 mi) west of the Ukrainian border, according to the EU member country's defense ministry. Among the weapons to be installed are howitzers and air defense systems.

Intense fighting has resumed in Ukraine's eastern Donbass, which includes the provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, particularly in the area around the city of Bakhmut.

According to Ukrainian officials, the Wagner Group, a private Russian military contractor and mercenary organisation that has played a role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine, had its headquarters in a hotel in the Luhansk region.

Serhiy Haidai, the Ukrainian governor of the area, claimed that the Sunday attack on Kadiivka resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Russian citizens. 

Local authorities in Luhansk who are supported by Moscow acknowledged that a hotel building in Kadiivka was destroyed by a Ukrainian strike but insisted it was empty.

Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of the town of Melitopol in the southeast, claimed that Ukraine also attacked a hotel where FSB analysts were allegedly staying. None of the reports could be independently verified, and Moscow made no comments in response to that assertion.

On other fronts of the conflict, the prosecutor general's office of Ukraine reported on Monday that two civilians were killed and 10 were injured when Russia shelled the town of Hirnyk in the Donetsk region.

On his Telegram messaging app channel, Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko alleged that "it was yet another Russian attack against civilians."

Also Read: Small islands request the opinion of the UN Sea Court on climate change

The governor of Kherson, Yaroslav Yanushevych, reported Monday's casualties from a Russian attack on the same-named city in the south, which Ukraine reclaimed a month ago. 

He claimed that the Russian shelling caused damage to power lines and residential buildings. Yanushevych pleaded with city dwellers