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| Local residents check their car, destroyed by the previous day's Russian military strike, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in central Kyiv, Ukraine October 11, 2022. |
eed for air defenses following Moscow's most intense missile strikes since the war began.
Opening the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia's massive wave of missile attacks this week revealed the "malice and cruelty" of its war.
Ukraine had shifted the conflict's momentum with "extraordinary" gains since September, but would require more assistance to continue fighting, he said.
"These victories are the result of Ukraine's valiant soldiers. However, the Contact Group's security assistance, training, and maintenance efforts have been critical "Austin stated.
Since Monday, when President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliatory strikes against Ukraine in response to an explosion on a bridge, Russian attacks using more than 100 missiles have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine.
Air raid sirens sounded across large swaths of Ukraine on Wednesday, and there were reports of some shelling, but no sign of a repeat of the previous two days' intensive countrywide strikes.
The missiles mostly targeted civilian electricity and heating infrastructure, but some also hit busy roads, parks, and tourist attractions, including the Kyiv city center.
Russia's missile attacks, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, are a sign of weakness.
"The reality is that they are unable to advance on the battlefield. On the battlefield, Russia is actually losing "Stoltenberg explained.
Since the attacks on Monday, Germany has sent the first of four planned IRIS-T SLM air defense systems, while the United States has said it will expedite the delivery of a promised NASAMS air defense system.
CRISIS IN ENERGY
EU energy ministers were also meeting in Prague to discuss how to deal with an energy crisis brought on by the war.
PERN, the Polish pipeline operator, announced on Wednesday that it had discovered a leak in one of the pipes in the Druzhba system, which transports oil from Russia to Europe, but that the cause was most likely an accident.
Since the main undersea gas pipelines were damaged by suspected sabotage last month, global attention has been focused on the security of Russian energy pipelines to Europe.
Western countries have not stated who is to blame for the massive explosions that blew holes in the two Nord Stream 1 pipelines and one of the two pipes that comprise the new Nord Stream 2 project, but have implied that Russia is to blame.
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| Firefighters work at the site of a car retailer office building, destroyed during a Russian missile attack in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine October 11, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout |
On Wednesday, Putin stated that gas could now be delivered through the remaining undamaged Nord Stream 2 pipeline, but it was up to Europe to approve it. Germany has suspended the new pipeline, which was completed but never opened, since the invasion. Alexei Miller, the CEO of Gazprom, stated that repairing the damaged pipes would take more than a year.
As his forces have lost ground on the battlefield since September, Putin has escalated the conflict by calling up hundreds of thousands of reservists, declaring annexation of occupied Ukrainian territory, and threatening to use nuclear weapons to protect Russia.
On Wednesday, US President Joe Biden said he doubted Putin would use a nuclear weapon.
Putin is a "rational actor who has significantly miscalculated," Biden said in a CNN interview, adding that the Russian president incorrectly expected his invading troops to be welcomed.
When asked if he thought Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon, Biden said, "Well, I don't think he will."
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels on Tuesday that the military alliance had seen no change in Russia's nuclear posture.
MARKET SUCCESS
According to the most recent battlefield reports, seven people were killed in Russian shelling of a market in the frontline town of Avdiivka by the Ukrainian governor of partially occupied Donetsk province.
Ukraine's military said its forces drove Russian troops out of several settlements on the west bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region, near the Russian-occupied town of Beryslav.
The Ukrainians broke through Russia's front line in the area in early October and have been advancing ever since, attempting to cut off thousands of Russian troops from supply and escape routes across the river.
Explosions were reported in Kherson and Melitopol, both in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine.
Also in the south, Russian missiles destroyed buildings in the Zaporizhzhia region overnight, though no casualties were reported, according to regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh.
Ukrainian emergency services released video footage of a family being rescued from the rubble of a flattened building after what they claimed was a missile strike in Zaporizhzhi. Reuters was unable to independently confirm the video's location or date of production.
Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine's sixth largest city, remains under Ukrainian control, despite Moscow's claim to have annexed the entire surrounding province. Since the annexation proclamation, the city has been subjected to nightly Russian attacks, with at least three apartment blocks being destroyed while residents slept. According to Starukh, at least 70 people have been killed this month.
Residents cleaned up after the previous strikes as air raid sirens sounded over Kyiv for the third day in a row.
"They are not fighting the military; they are simply motivated by the desire to destroy, destroy, destroy us," Yulia Datsenko, a 38-year-old paramedic, said as she surveyed the damage to her apartment.
Source: REUTER