BRUSSELS – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday asked Nato allies for more weapons and air defences to tide his country through another wartime winter, as it braces itself for a barrage of Russian attacks on power stations and other infrastructure.

Mr Zelensky made his first visit to Nato headquarters since Russia’s invasion in 2022, at a time when turbulence in the US Congress threatens to disrupt aid for Kyiv and the world’s attention is drawn to another crisis unfolding in Israel.

Acknowledging concerns over whether allies might cut military supplies to Ukraine, Mr Zelensky said it was a “dangerous situation” of uncertainty, but added that he received the right reassurances.

He also made explicit comparisons between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, and said Western weapons were crucial to put Moscow in a disadvantageous position in the war.

“The winter air defence is a significant part of the answer to the question of when this war will end and whether it will end justly for Ukraine,” Mr Zelensky said.

“We must win the winter battle against terror, and we can win it,” he added, at a meeting of defence ministers from Nato and some 20 other countries that give military aid to Ukraine in a United States-led forum known as the Ukraine Defence Contact Group.

Reiterating the West’s pledge to supporting Ukraine for as long as it takes, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced a new US$200 million (S$272 million) defence package for Ukraine, including air defence munitions and weapons to counter Russian drones.

On the eve of the meeting, Germany similarly announced a new “winter package” worth around €1 billion ($1.45 billion) that includes new air defence systems, while a Britain-led group of countries announced help with mine-clearing.

Mr Zelensky also secured promises of F-16 fighter jets from Denmark and Belgium, though the latter were slated for delivery in 2025.

Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Mr Putin was “preparing once again to use winter as a weapon of war” by attacking energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

US reassurance

Ukraine started a counter-offensive over the summer to try to retake territory in the south and east, but has so far failed to make major breakthroughs past Russia’s network of fortifications and minefields.

Washington has provided US$44 billion to supply Kyiv with dozens of tanks, thousands of rockets and millions of rounds of ammunition, but support is falling among Americans of both main political parties.

Mr Austin will have to convince allies that Washington can support Ukraine while helping Israel deal with the attacks by Hamas militants.

Successive presidents have tried to reduce the US focus on the Middle East, but are drawn in by crises that can take away from military resources in other parts of the world.

“My question was, that will your support be less than now?” Mr Zelensky said.

“The partners say ‘no’. But who knows how it will be? I think nobody knows.”

Mr Zelensky sought to portray the Russian invasion and the attacks by Hamas as two sides of the same coin.

“Terrorists like Putin or like Hamas seek to hold free and democratic nations as hostages, and they want power,” he said.

“(Russia) still has enough resources to incite conflicts and turn them into full-scale tragedies, and this is happening in Sahel. And it can happen even more painfully in Israel and in the Middle East.”

Russia has denied targeting civilians and has blamed the West for the war in Ukraine, saying it had no choice but to launch what it calls a “special military operation” there.

It describes suggestions from Ukraine that Moscow is seeking to inflame the situation in the Middle East, as baseless.

Hamas, which calls for Israel’s destruction, said its attack was justified by the plight of Gaza under a 16-year-old blockade and the deadliest Israeli crackdown for years in the occupied West Bank. REUTERS