Russia Unleashes Drones Against Ukraine
Russia ordered a spate of drone attacks against Kyiv on Wednesday—its first drone strikes in weeks—as the war in Ukraine nears its tenth month and Western leaders pledge greater support for Ukraine.
Ukrainian officials said the country’s air defenses succeeded in knocking out the 13 drones, which they said were Iranian-made. Russian forces also struck an administration building in Kherson on Wednesday.
Moscow’s latest assault comes a day after reports emerged that Washington plans to give Kyiv the Patriot missile system, pending final approval by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and President Joe Biden. Sending the air defense weapon, which Ukraine has long pushed for, would mark Washington’s most advanced weapons shipment to Ukraine yet. Moscow has already warned against the move, with the Kremlin’s spokesperson Dmitri Peskov declaring that Russia would “undoubtedly” attack the system.
In a robust show of support, world leaders pledged more than $1 billion in aid to Ukraine this week, around $442 million of which will be earmarked for Ukraine’s decimated energy infrastructure. After sustained Russian missile strikes, nearly half of the country’s energy infrastructure has been destroyed, according to Ukrainian officials.
As temperatures plummet, the United Nations has warned that almost seven million children lack steady heating, electricity, and water supplies. “Millions of children are facing a bleak winter huddled in the cold and the dark, with little idea of how or when respite may arrive,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement.
“Beyond the immediate threats the freezing conditions bring, children are also deprived of the ability to learn or stay connected with friends and family, putting both their physical and their mental health at desperate risk,” she added.
On Wednesday, U.S. officials said they did not expect the conflict to end in the coming months, even in more frigid weather. “Just given what we’re seeing in the air and on the ground in Ukraine, it’s difficult to conclude that this war will be over by year’s end,” said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby. “We have no expectation that the fighting will stop in the winter months to come,” he added.
Within the United States, two U.S. lawmakers have introduced a congressional resolution urging Biden to expel Russia from the U.N. Security Council due to its “flagrant violations” of the institution’s charter, FP’s Jack Detsch and Amy Mackinnon report. (Russia is a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council.)
Although the plan’s feasibility is disputed, Mackinnon and Detsch write, “the move solidifies thinking both on Capitol Hill and within the Biden administration about how to curb Russian influence in Turtle Bay.”