Ukraine on Tuesday called on NATO member states meeting in Bucharest to speed up the supply of weapons and electrical equipment to help the country cope with damage to its energy infrastructure caused by Russian bombing.
“Last time I said 3 words: weapons, weapons, weapons. This time I have 3 more words: faster, faster, faster,” said Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, shortly before starting a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. .
As for the most urgent Ukrainian needs, he indicated that these are generators and Patriot air defense missiles.
Using winter as a “weapon of war”
Stoltenberg said earlier in the day, while hosting the two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers, that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to use winter as a “weapon of war” against Ukraine with “deliberate attacks” on civil structures to deprive the country of heat, electricity and water.
He also added that the Kremlin’s goal is to “inflict as much suffering as possible on Ukrainian civilians to try to break their steadfastness and unity in the fight against” the Russian military operation.
53 million dollars
Meanwhile, a meeting of the convened Group of Seven, chaired by Germany on the sidelines of NATO, called for mobilizing assistance to address the energy crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who arrived in Bucharest on Monday evening, announced financial aid of $53 million in addition to a $55 million package earmarked for the purchase of generators, with the aim of helping the Ukraine.
In turn, an American source said that this money will be used to purchase electrical equipment (including transformers), which will be delivered “quickly” to Ukraine.
In total, President Joe Biden’s administration has allocated $1.1 billion for energy in Ukraine and Moldova.
intense blows
Interestingly, Russia launched an intense campaign of missile strikes against energy facilities early last October in Ukraine. According to data cited by the Ukrainian government, 25 to 30 percent of these structures were damaged.
Since the start of the Russian operation on the territory of the western neighbor on February 24, the West has sided with Kiev, supporting it with weapons and equipment, as well as providing humanitarian aid, imposing the toughest sanctions on Moscow, affecting various sectors, so like hundreds of politicians and wealthy Russians.
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