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NATO pledges support to neighboring countries as Russia intensifies attack on Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Vladimir Putin had focused 'his ire and his fire' on Ukraine’s civilian population

KYIV, UKRAINE: As Russia intensifies its war and targets eastern Ukraine, NATO is trying to garner more support from its members. It was during the NATO foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday, November 30, when Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference in Bucharest, after two-day discussions, “Heat, water, electricity ... these are President Putin’s new targets. He’s hitting them hard. This brutalization of Ukraine's people is barbaric.” A $1.2 billion contract for six advanced surface-to-air missile systems known as NASAMS for Ukraine was given to Raytheon, informed Pentagon. The decision came amid a Ukrainian military claim that Russian forces tried to gain territory in eastern Ukraine and trained tank, mortar, and artillery fire on Kherson in the south.

Blinken also said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had now focused ‘his ire and his fire’ on Ukraine’s civilian population. He also warned Russia that their effort to divide Ukraine’s supporters will not work. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday, November 30, that his nation requires a US-made Patriot missile defense system to protect the country’s civilian infrastructure. Since winter’s onset, Russia has been allegedly bombarding Ukraine with multiple heavy attacks. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and ministers assured and pledge their assistance to Moldova, Georgia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina as these relatively smaller nations face rising pressure from Russia.

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Taking a dig at NATO's two-day meeting, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said it only shows they are “absolutely not interested in a political and diplomatic solution in Ukraine”. Russia attacked and invaded neighbor Ukraine in February, which it refers to as a ‘special military operation’ to clean Ukraine of ‘dangerous nationalists.’ On the other side, Ukraine and its Western allies call the attack an imperialist attempt to grab land in an unprovoked fight, reports NBC News.

Ukraine has ordered to tighten of the security of all Kyiv’s embassies abroad, post two letter bombs were sent to the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid, and the other to an arms company in Spain that manufactures rocket launchers donated to Ukrainian forces. The authorities in Spain said that they are investigating the possible link to two bombs, while it is reported that one of these injured an embassy security officer.

“We are analyzing the intentions of the occupiers and preparing countermeasures — tougher countermeasures than is now the case,” said Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Ukrainian President in an address Wednesday evening, November 30.

Yuriy Ignat, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson said that their defense forces had downed 340 of the roughly 400 Iranian drones that Russia had launched during the ongoing war. “We haven’t seen these Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles for about two weeks ... the first batch has probably already run out,” he told Ukraine’s leading television network.