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NATO FMs zoom in on more winter aid for Kyiv

It is expected that the NATO meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday would feature NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg calling on allies to pledge more winter aid for Ukraine after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told residents to brace for another week of cold and darkness due to Russian attacks on infrastructure.

At the centre of discussion in Bucharest will be ramping up military assistance for Ukraine such as air defence systems and ammunition, even as diplomats acknowledge supply and capacity issues, but also on non-lethal aid.

The latter category comprises goods such as fuel, medical supplies, winter equipment and drone jammers. This kind of help has been delivered through a NATO assistance package that allies can chip into and which Secretary-General Stoltenberg aims to increase.

On a quest to dispel darkness

Leaving his people under no illusions, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said new Russian attacks this week could unfold, adding that the week could be as bad as last week’s, the toughest yet. Millions of people have been left with no heating, water or power.

Although Russia started acknowledging that it has targeted Ukrainian infrastructure, it denied its intent is to hurt civilians.

It is going to be a terrible winter for Ukraine, so we are working to strengthen our support for it to be resilient,” a senior European diplomat said.

G7 presidency-holding Germany scheduled a meeting of the group of seven richest nations with some partners on the sidelines of the NATO talks, as it campaigned for ways to speed up reconstructing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

On a quest to re-electrify Ukraine, namely restore its high-voltage transmission stations damaged by Russian missile strikes, Washington has been collaborating with U.S. utilities and hardware providers and with European nations to locate equipment that could help achieve this goal, according to a senior State Department official.

The official did not provide details on the form the assistance would take or how much it would be worth.

France and Germany have said they were sending more than 100 power generators each to Ukraine to help stabilise the electricity grid.

“The reason Russia is continuing these war crimes is that they are losing ground,” a French official said, referring to the attacks on civilian infrastructure.

NATO urges weapons manufacturers to step up production

Military matters remain as urgent as ever as NATO keeps urging weapons manufacturers to step up production. Still, a second diplomat cautioned there were increasing problems with supply capacity.

We are doing the maximum we can on deliveries, but there is a real problem. The Ukrainians know it. Even the U.S. weapons industry despite its strength is having issues,” the diplomat said.

Also on the ministers’ agenda will be tackling Ukraine’s application for NATO membership. The discussion will likely result solely in confirmation of the alliance’s open-door policy while NATO membership still appears far away.

Ukraine’s future NATO membership was agreed upon in 2008 during the Alliance’s summit at the same Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, built under dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu who was toppled in 1989.

Nonetheless, leaders have stopped short of taking any binding steps such as giving Ukraine a membership action plan that would lay out a timetable for bringing it closer to NATO.

NATO ministers will also discuss how to boost the resilience of society, days after Secretary-General Stoltenberg warned Western nations must be careful not to create new dependencies on China as they wean themselves off Russian energy supplies.

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