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Kyiv: European officials are busy helping Ukraine keep warm and functioning through a harsh winter, pledging more support on Friday to ease Russian efforts to shut down fires and power outages.
Nine months after Russia invaded its neighbor, the Kremlin’s forces have focused on Ukraine’s power grid and other critical civilian infrastructure to tighten their grip on Kyiv. Officials estimate that about 50 percent of Ukraine’s energy installations were damaged in the latest attack.
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonne said on Friday that Russia was “weaponizing” the winter and putting Ukrainian civilians at risk.
British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit on Friday, said Britain’s promised £50 million ($60 million) air defense package would help Ukraine defend itself from Russian bombing.
“Words are not enough. Words will not keep the lights on this winter. Words will not protect against Russian missiles,” Cleverly said in a tweet about military aid.
The kit includes radar and other technology to counter Iranian-supplied explosive drones that Russia has used against Ukrainian targets, particularly the power grid. It comes after the UK announced earlier this month that it had delivered more than 1,000 anti-aircraft missiles.
Russian officials claim they are hitting legitimate targets. But on Friday, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed alarm at the depth of civilian suffering caused by the bombing amid broader allegations of abuse.
“These strikes have plunged millions of people into extremely difficult and appalling living conditions,” Volker Türk said in a statement on Friday. “Overall, this raises serious problems under international humanitarian law, which requires Every target attacked has a specific and immediate military advantage.”
Putin meets his mother
President Vladimir Putin met with mothers of soldiers fighting in Ukraine on Friday, telling them that he and the entire Russian leadership share in their suffering.
“I want you to know, personally and the entire leadership of the country – we share your pain,” Putin said. The war in Ukraine has killed tens of thousands of soldiers on both sides.
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