Fighting rages in east Ukraine, Europe agrees extra military aid to Ukraine

KYIV - Russian forces pounded targets in eastern and southern Ukraine with missiles, drones and artillery, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Monday, while millions remained without power in subzero temperatures after further strikes on key infrastructure.

European Union foreign ministers agreed to put another 2 billion euros (S$2.8 billion) into

a fund that has been used to pay for military support

for Ukraine, after it was largely depleted during almost 10 months of the war.

The EU ministers were also due to to discuss a ninth package of sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky was set to address an online gathering of Group of Seven (G7) leaders about the war.

There are no peace talks and no end in sight to the deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, which Moscow describes as a “special military operation” and Ukraine and its allies call an unprovoked act of aggression.

Russia does not yet see a “constructive” approach from the United States on the Ukraine conflict, RIA news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin as saying on Monday.

The head of the Norwegian Refugee Council said on Monday he anticipates another wave of hundreds of thousands of refugees from Ukraine in Europe over the winter, because of “unliveable” conditions.

“Nobody knows how many but there will be hundreds of thousands more as the horrific and unlawful bombing of civilian infrastructure makes life unliveable in too many places,” Jan Egeland told Reuters by phone after returning from a trip to Ukraine earlier this month.

“So I fear that the crisis in Europe will deepen and that will overshadow equally crises in other places of the world,” he said.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will hold the online meeting with G-7 leaders and EU foreign ministers to try to agree on further sanctions on Russia and Iran, and on additional aid or arms deliveries to Ukraine. 

The proposed EU sanctions would target Iran over human rights abuses in its crackdown on anti-government protesters and the supply of drones to Russia, while the ninth package of Russia sanctions would place almost 200 more individuals and entities on the EU sanctions list. 

“The G-7 meeting will be held today. Ukraine will participate, and now we have coordinated our positions with America,” Mr Zelensky said after his call with Mr Biden.

Mr Zelensky said he agreed with Mr Biden about Ukraine’s need for effective anti-aircraft defence systems to protect the population.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told CBS’s 60 Minutes Washington’s support for Ukraine’s military and economy – more than US$50 billion (S$68 billion) and counting – would continue “for as long as it takes”. She reiterated that ending the war was the single best thing the US could do for the global economy.

On the ground in Ukraine, the Black Sea port of Odesa on Monday resumed operations that were suspended after Russia used Iranian-made drones on Saturday to hit two energy facilities.

Power is slowly being restored to some 1.5 million people, officials said.  There were no reports of fresh strikes or blackouts overnight into Monday. 

In its daily update, Ukraine’s General Staff said its forces repelled Russian assaults on four settlements in the eastern Donetsk region and on eight settlements in the adjacent Luhansk region.

Russia kept up its attacks on Bakhmut, which is now largely in ruins, Avdiivka and Lyman, and launched two missile strikes against civilian infrastructure in Kostyantynivka, all in the Donetsk region.

Elsewhere, Russian forces carried out more than 60 attacks from rocket salvo systems targeting the civilian infrastructure in Kherson, the southern city liberated by Ukrainian forces in November, and Ukrainian troops based there. 

Russia also shelled settlements along the Zaporizhzhia frontline in southern central Ukraine, while Ukrainian forces hit Russian control points, munitions warehouses and other targets. 

Earlier, Mr Zelensky said he held “a very meaningful” conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on “defence, energy, economy, diplomacy” that lasted more than an hour and “very specific” talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on assuring Ukraine’s grain exports.

Turkey, which acted as a mediator in peace talks in the early months of the war, also

worked alongside the United Nations in a grain deal,

which opened up Ukrainian ports for exports in July after a six-month de facto Russian blockade.

Mr Erdogan’s office said the Turkish leader had a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, in which he called for a quick end to the conflict.

The Kremlin said in a statement that in addition to talking about energy and grain, Mr Putin also “outlined his fundamental assessment of the situation surrounding Ukraine”. 

Mr Putin said last week that Moscow’s near-total loss of trust in the West would make an eventual settlement over Ukraine much harder to reach and warned of a protracted war. REUTERS