Ukraine and its allies are meeting on November 22 to discuss ways to strengthen protection against an expected increase in Russian attacks on the war-torn country’s energy and civilian infrastructure during the upcoming cold season.
Virtual meeting of the Defense Contact Group in Ukraine brings together representatives of around fifty countries who support kyiv in its war against Russia and is chaired by American Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
“The emphasis will be on winter readiness – air defense, artillery, ammunition. But the planned requirements always depend on what the soldiers at the front need. And they are constantly updated,” said Illarion Pavlyuk , Director General of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. spokesperson.
Last winter, Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was regularly targeted by Russian missile and drone strikes, which caused civilian casualties, damage and misery for millions of people who were left in the cold. darkness and cold, amid subzero temperatures.
Before the meeting, Austin and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius visited Kiev as Washington and Berlin announced new military aid programs for Ukraine.
The United States and Germany are the two main providers of military aid to Ukraine.
But more recently, concerns have been raised about a “war fatigue” among Ukraine’s Western allies, particularly in Washington.
The meeting comes as Russian forces bombed the town of Nikopol, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, early on November 22, causing casualties and damage, and as Ukrainian air defenses repelled a new wave of drone strikes Russians.
“The occupiers have targeted the Nikopol region with heavy artillery four times since last night, regional governor Serhiy Lysak said on Telegram, adding that two civilians were injured.
“Two men aged 61 and 37 were injured in the city center and eight private houses, vehicles and a gas pipeline were damaged,” Lysak said, adding that power lines were also destroyed by the shelling, leaving more than 1,200 families without electricity.
Russian artillery and drone strikes have repeatedly targeted Nikopol, causing civilian casualties and damaging infrastructure. Last week, a man was killed in a drone strike.
Ukraine’s air defense said in a statement released Nov. 22 that Russia launched a multi-pronged drone attack on several regions overnight, but all 14 Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down.
The statement said the drones were shot down over the Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhya, kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnytsya and Khmelnytskiy regions.
He said a Russian cruise missile fell in the Zaporizhzhya region without hitting its target but caused damage to infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s 128th Separate Transcarpathian Mountain Assault Brigade reports that it hit a building in the village of Kumachovo in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces were celebrating Missile Forces Day and artillery on November 19, killing 25 soldiers. This claim could not be independently verified.
According to Novaya Gazeta.Europe and social media, Russian director and actress Polina Menchikh, who came to perform for the troops, was among those killed in the strike, which used HIMARS missiles.
On November 5, 19 members of the Transcarpathian Brigade were killed when Russian missiles struck a ceremony held at a frontline position in southern Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on November 22 that its air defense units had destroyed three Ukrainian drones over occupied Crimea, as well as four Ukrainian naval drones.
“Three Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed over the territory of the Republic of Crimea by air defense,” the ministry said.
The four naval drones were destroyed in the western part of the Black Sea while en route to Crimea.
This claim could not be independently verified.
WATCH: Ukraine marks the 10th anniversary of the Euromaidan protest movement that erupted after then-President Viktor Yanukovych refused to sign an association agreement with the EU. Massive crowds of pro-European protesters have occupied kyiv’s central square for months to oppose Yanukovych’s plan to strengthen economic ties with Russia.
On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces reported 48 close-quarters engagements along the front line over the past 24 hours.
The General Staff of the Ukrainian army said that Russian assaults were repelled in the Donetsk region in the direction of Lyman, Bakhmut and Avdiyivka.
In Bakhmut, which saw months of heavy fighting earlier this year before falling to the Russians, Ukrainian forces were carrying out offensive operations, the General Staff said.
