US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who arrived in Bucharest today, will announce new aid to Ukraine in order to restore its power grid, said a senior State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Washington is working with American companies and with European countries looking for equipment and parts in order to repair the damage that high-voltage stations in Ukraine have suffered, the official explained.
Since the beginning of October, Russia has targeted Ukraine’s power plants, as well as the electricity distribution network, as well as water pumping stations.
“It’s going to be a horrible winter for Ukrainewhenever we work to increase our support to make it more durable,” commented a European diplomat.
Germany, which holds the rotating G7 presidency, has scheduled a Group of 7 meeting with some of its partners on the sidelines of the talks NATOas it looks for ways to speed up the repair of damage to Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Foreign ministers will also discuss Ukraine’s request to join Nato, but are expected to merely reaffirm the alliance’s open-door policy, with the war-torn country’s accession looking a long way off.
Determined to decorate for Christmas
Snow is falling in Kyiv and the temperature is hovering around zero, while millions of residents of the capital struggle to heat their homes. Christmas trees will be decorated, but without lights, across the city, in a sign that Kiev residents are defying the Russian attacks, officials said.
“We cannot allow Putin to steal Christmas from us“, said Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko, speaking to the RBC-Ukraine agency.
After the Russian forces have retreated to the northeast and across the Dnieper River to the south, the forehead line is about half as long as it was a few months ago, which makes it difficult for the Ukrainian forces to find weak points and attempt a new counterattack.
Ukraine’s army general staff announced late Monday that Russian forces were heavily shelling towns on the west bank of the Dnieper, including Kherson.
THE Moscow is shelling the towns of Bakhmut and Avdiivka in Donetsk province, while in the north it has shelled areas around the cities of Kupyansk and Liman, which were recently recaptured by Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces damaged a railway bridge north of Russian-held Melitopol in southern Ukraine, which is critical for transporting supplies to Russian forces in the area.
Source: News Beast
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