More than €1bn was raised to support Ukraine this winter at the aid conference in Paris, France’s foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, said. The money, pledged by 46 countries and 24 international organisations, would be split between restoring Ukraine’s depleted energy network, the food sector, water supply, health and transportation, Colonna said.
Ukrainian officials gave the all clear on Tuesday after air raid sirens blared across the country following warnings that Russia may carry out a new wave of missile strikes. Ukrainian media said the alerts may have been triggered by MiG fighter jets that took off from Ryazan, near Russia’s border with Ukraine, and flew towards Belarus.
Germany will approve another €50m in winter aid for Kyiv following Russia’s missile attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Germany’s foreign minister, Annalena Baerbock, said.
Arms shipments to Ukraine will end as soon as peace talks to end the Russian invasion begin, Italy’s defence minister told parliament. “I am aware that military aid will have to end sooner or later, and will end when we will have the peace talks that we are all hoping for,” said the defence minister, Guido Crosetto, while addressing the upper-house Senate.
French president Emmanuel Macron said on Tuesday that there was an agreement on removing heavy weapons from Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants. Talks were underway, he said, adding: “We managed to protect Chornobyl and our goal is to protect Zaporizhzhia. The coming weeks will be crucial”.
Ukraine has called for the west to supply Patriot missiles batteries and other modern air defence systems. The country’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, appealed to western allies on Monday amid growing concerns that attacks by Russia on its electricity grid could create a new wave of refugees.
The United States has shipped the first part of its power equipment aid to Ukraine, US officials said on Monday, as Washington works to support the country’s energy infrastructure against intensifying attacks from Russia. The first tranche was power equipment worth about $13m, one of the officials said. Another source familiar with the matter said two more planeloads of equipment would leave from the United States this week.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged leaders of the Group of Seven nations on Monday to support his idea of convening a special global peace summit in winter dedicated to bringing peace to his country.
Ukraine’s deputy head of military intelligence has warned that Russia has enough missiles to launch another three to five waves of strikes on the country. Vadym Skibitsky also claimed Russia is using old Ukrainian missiles against Kyiv and outlined the four general directions from which Russia is launching missiles into Ukraine.
Two civilians have been killed and 10 more injured after Russian rocket attacks on the town of Hirnyk in the Donetsk region. Russian forces struck the centre of the town “with cluster munitions and Uragan MLRS [multilaunch rocket systems]”, the prosecutor general’s office said.
Two people were killed and another five wounded after Russian troops shelled Kherson, according to local authorities.