[News] NATO will deliver counter-drone equipment to Ukraine, alliance's chief says

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NATO is set to deliver counter-drone equipment to Ukraine, the alliance's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday following the meetings of NATO Defence Ministers in Brussels. 

It comes as Ukraine has asked its allies to supply it with more air defense systems and ammunition after Russia stepped up its use of “kamikaze drones” in its brutal assault against the country.

NATO allies "are supplying advanced systems, including artillery, air defence, and armoured vehicles," Stoltenberg said. "I thank all Allies for their significant contributions and urge them to continue to step up. We are also providing fuel, winter clothing and medical supplies as part of NATO’s Comprehensive Assistance Package," he added.
"Under this package, NATO will shortly deliver counter-drone equipment to Ukraine. With hundreds of drone jammers, which can help render ineffective Russian and Iranian-made drones. And to protect Ukrainian people and critical infrastructure," he continued.

Stoltenberg also said that in the longer term, NATO will also "help Ukraine to transition from Soviet-era to modern NATO equipment." Ukraine’s Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov updated NATO on the situation on the battlefield, Stoltenberg said, adding that "Ukraine is making good progress, pushing back the invading Russian forces in the East and in the South."
Ukrainian air force says it shot down 4 Russian missiles
From CNN's Julia Kesaieva

The Ukrainian air force said it shot down four Russian Kalibr cruise missiles on Wednesday.

Ukraine's Air Command West said on Telegram that the Russians "continue to attack civilians, launch missile strikes on critical infrastructure."
The Russians targeted "facilities in the western region from the Black Sea with Kalibr cruise missiles," it said.

"Four cruise missiles were destroyed," it added.
More Russian missile strikes reported in western Ukraine
From CNN's Olga Voitovych and Julia Kesaieva

There are reports of fresh Russian missile attacks in western Ukraine.

"Lviv region: Air Defense Forces worked. Details later. Stay in shelters! The danger still continues," Maksym Kozytskyi, head of the Lviv Region Military Administration, said on Telegram.

Residents of Ternopil region, also in the west, reported explosions in the town of Chortkiv and Ternopil city. It's unclear whether they were due to missiles or air defenses at work. There was no official word on the cause.

Kozytskyi said that Russians "hit one of the military facilities in the Lviv region. This is a repeated hit on this facility. Military property was destroyed, there are no casualties...3 missiles, 2 hits. 1 missile was shot down by our air defense forces."

A week of deadly strikes: Civilian targets across Ukraine have been under fire this week as Moscow retaliates for last weekend's massive explosion on the bridge connecting annexed Crimea to the Russian mainland.

That's continued Thursday, including a “kamikaze” drone attack on the Kyiv region and shelling of residential buildings in the southern city of Mykolaiv.
The head of the Russian-backed administration in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson has appealed to the Kremlin to organize an evacuation of civilians in the face of a Ukrainian offensive.

"Every day, the cities of the Kherson region are subjected to missile strikes: Kherson and Novaya Kakhovka, Golaya Pristan and Chernobaevka. These missile strikes cause serious damage, first of all, to the local residents. Because the targets hit by the missiles are hotels, residential buildings, markets, where there are many civilians," said Vladimir Saldo, head of one of four regions annexed by Russia last month.
As a result, the Kherson leadership "decided to organize the possibility of Kherson families traveling to other regions of the Russian Federation," he said on his Telegram channel.

"We suggested that all residents of the Kherson region, if there is such a wish, to protect themselves from the consequences of missile strikes, should go to other regions ... to take their children and leave," he said, adding an "appeal" to the Russian leadership to "help in organizing such work. We, residents of the Kherson region, of course, know that Russia does not abandon its own people."

However, Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of Kherson region military administration, said, "There is no evacuation in the Kherson region and there cannot be any."

Saldo's request to "help organize the departure of residents of the Kherson region for temporary stay and rest in other regions of the Russian Federation is not a call for evacuation," Stremousov said. "We urge the residents of the Kherson region to remain calm and to not panic. Nobody is going to withdraw Russian troops from the Kherson region."

Ukrainian forces have been making gradual advances through Kherson, as well as striking critical infrastructure such as bridges and railways.

 

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