KYIV, Ukraine—Russia held back Monday from launching a new round of strikes that have been expected against power stations and other key infrastructure in Ukraine, as officials warned a lingering energy and water crisis from earlier attacks could prompt more evacuations from the capital.
Sweden said it had provided a 270-million-euro package of air defense systems, ammunition, all-terrain vehicles and personal winter gear for troops. Finland pledged to take in more Ukrainian refugees. In Washington, White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the US is working with partners and allies to provide energy and water replacement equipment to Ukraine
“President Putin is now trying to use the winter as a weapon of war against Ukraine, and this is horrific and we need to be prepared for more attacks,” he said on the eve of a two-day meeting of Nato foreign ministers—including those who visited Kyiv on Monday—in Bucharest, Romania. “That’s the reason why Nato’s allies have stepped up their support to Ukraine.”
With temperatures hovering around freezing, and expected to dip as low as minus 11C in little more than a week, international help was increasingly focused on items like generators and transformers, to make sure blackouts that affect everything from kitchens to operating rooms are as limited and short as possible. The power situation was so dire that Ukraine’s energy trader—in normal times an exporter—tested importing electricity from neighboring Romania.
Ukraine’s presidential office said Monday that at least four civilians were killed and 11 others wounded in the latest Russian attacks. It said intense fighting is continuing in the east, with the Russians shelling Bakhmut and Toretsk.