Brussels (agencies)
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg called for sending more weapons to Ukraine, stressing that “military support for Ukraine is the fastest way to peace,” stressing that Russian President Vladimir Putin must be convinced that he will not achieve his goal of controlling Ukraine.
Stoltenberg said there could be a “peaceful, negotiated solution that guarantees Ukraine’s sovereignty as an independent, democratic state”. He made it clear that he considers the recent Ukrainian attacks on military targets in Russia completely legitimate, adding that “every country has the right to defend itself – and so does Ukraine,” pointing to the need to look at the Ukrainian attacks in their context.
The NATO chief said that massive Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure aim to deprive Ukrainians of water, heat and electricity in winter.
He stressed that the dialogue continues between the allies about providing Ukraine with medium-range missiles, noting that NATO allies have already provided Ukraine with long-range weapons systems in the past.
On the ground, the Ukrainian missile and artillery forces bombed yesterday, 5 command posts of the Russian forces, 5 groups of personnel and an ammunition depot, this came in a statement issued by the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to the Ukrainian news agency “Ukrinform” yesterday.
The report indicated that “the Ukrainian Air Force launched 12 attacks yesterday against Russian forces personnel, ammunition and sets of military equipment, and an attack on the sites of the air defense system.”
In a related context, a Russian investigation committee announced yesterday that it had found 3,000 bodies in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, accusing Kyiv of causing their death.
The Russian agency “Sputnik”, quoting the investigation committee, said that “during the period in which the Russian army organized humanitarian corridors through one of the sectors into which the city was divided between the Ukrainian forces, artificial obstacles were created in front of citizens during the evacuation process from the city.”
And she stated that “because of their inability to leave the city and move in search of food, civilians became a living target for the Ukrainians who targeted and killed them with various weapons,” noting that “last April, the bodies of 51 civilians were found in the sites left by the Ukrainian forces, and after the complete liberation and inspection of the city.” They numbered more than 3,000.
This comes with the Russian Ministry of Defense announcing, in a statement, the implementation of “intense, high-precision strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.”
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