British Defense Secretary Grant Shapps announced on Friday that Britain will send about 200 air defense missiles to Ukraine after a series of intense Russian strikes.
Shapps said on the X platform: “The UK is moving quickly to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense following Putin’s deadly air strikes. Hundreds of British-made air defense missiles are being sent to ensure Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself from Putin’s barbaric bombing.”
Putin in testing Ukraine’s defences and the West’s resolve – now is the time for the world to come together and redouble our efforts to get Ukraine what they need to win 🇺🇦
Read my full statement on today’s attacks: pic.twitter.com/PnzFbn4a8o
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) December 29, 2023
On Friday morning, Russia launched a series of strikes on a number of Ukrainian cities, including the capital, Kiev, using an “unprecedented number of missiles,” killing at least 18 people and wounding 132 others, according to the Ukrainian authorities.
On the other hand, Poland, a member of NATO, confirmed that a Russian missile entered its airspace in the morning
“Today, Russia has used almost every type of weapon in its arsenal,” President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on the X platform.
The Ukrainian Air Force reported that 158 missiles and drones were launched at Ukraine, of which 114 were destroyed.
Air Force spokesman Yuri Ignat told AFP that “this is the largest missile attack in general” except for the first days of the war that broke out in February last year and witnessed “continuous and uninterrupted” strikes.
Ukrainian President’s Assistant Andriy Yermak announced on Telegram that the strikes targeted “civilian facilities and civilian buildings,” adding, “We are doing everything we can to strengthen our air defense. But the world must see that we need more support and strength to stop this terrorism.”
As US Ambassador to Kiev Bridget Brink wrote on the X website, “Ukraine needs funding now to continue the struggle to be freed from this horror in 2024.”
On Wednesday, Washington released the latest package of military aid approved by Congress for Kiev.
The Russian army announced on Friday that it had hit all of its targets in dozens of attacks it launched on Ukraine from December 23 to 29.
The United Nations Humanitarian Affairs Envoy to Ukraine, Denise Brown, condemned the recent attacks and said, “For the Ukrainian people, this is another unacceptable example of the horrific reality they face, which has made 2023 another year of enormous suffering.”
France also condemned “with the strongest degree of terror strategy,” while British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak believed that these strikes prove that President Vladimir Putin “will not back down from anything.”
European Union Foreign Minister Josep Borrell denounced the “cowardly” Russian strikes.
On Friday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, expressed his “shock” at the new wave of Russian strikes on Ukraine, calling on Moscow to stop its attacks “immediately.”
“I was shocked by the new series of coordinated and widespread attacks using missiles and drones,” Turk said in a statement, calling on Russia to “immediately stop these attacks and respect international laws related to conflicts.”
#Britain #moving #quickly #Putins #deadly #strikes #Ukraine
2023-12-29 16:53:05
