Nov. 29 (UPI) — NATO foreign ministers came together Tuesday in an effort to present a show of solidarity for Ukraine against the ongoing Russian invasion, pledging to help repair the country’s infrastructure and provide additional military aid.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia and its President Vladimir Putin of using winter as a weapon of war in his attack on Ukraine’s infrastructure. The attacks have left much of the country with the electricity and clean water needed to survive the usually harsh Ukrainian winters.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Moscow attacks have damaged about 40% of the country’s civilian infrastructure, spiraling the country into an energy crisis right at the arrival of the winter season.
“We have agreements on further cooperation in the defense and energy spheres, in the reconstruction projects of our state and in the sanctions sphere,” Zelenskyy said after a meeting in Kyiv with the ministers from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Iceland.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that his country needs just as much as additional air defense systems to “break this vicious cycle” of Russia repeatedly destroying infrastructure just as Ukrainian crews repair them again.
“We are fighting against a terrorist state,” Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said. “Ukraine will prevail and will bring the war criminals to justice.”
The United States is expected to provide a new round of assistance targeted at Ukraine’s infrastructure sector to help restore electrical power throughout the country. That support is also expected to be extended to neighbor and former Soviet Union satellite of Moldova.
