"We are meeting in Bucharest at a critical moment for our security and today's message is clear: NATO is here, NATO is vigilant".
This was stated by NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg in Bucharest, at the Aspen congress.
"We will support Ukraine to the end, we will not back down. Putin's war has not made us forget about other partners, such as Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Which we will support, so they can defend themselves," he added.
The situation remains critical in Kiev.
The capital
is again in the dark starting today:
the Ukrainian electricity company
Dtek
announced this morning the resumption of power outages.
The UN reports that
almost 7,000 civilians have been killed on the ground since the beginning of the war.
“President Putin is failing in his brutal war of aggression. And he is responding with greater brutality. We see wave after wave of deliberate rocket attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure: homes, hospitals and power grids. Ukraine," he added.
“And
if we let Putin win, we will all pay a much higher price, for many years to come.
Because the lesson learned by President Putin and other authoritarian leaders would be that they can achieve their goals using brute force. So they will be emboldened to use even more force. This will make our world more dangerous. And all of us more vulnerable."
“It is therefore in our long-term security interest to support Ukraine. We know that most wars end at the negotiating table. But what happens at the negotiating table is inextricably linked to what happens on the battlefield: for create the conditions for a lasting peace, which ensures Ukraine's prevalence as an independent sovereign state, we must continue to provide military support to Ukraine."
"Russia's war against Ukraine has not made us forget about other partners who are facing Russian pressure, intimidation and aggression. On the contrary, it has made our partnerships even more important. That is why NATO foreign ministers will meet with their Ukrainian counterpart, as well as with Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina. To address the challenges we face. And to strengthen our support. For their resilience, political independence and the modernization of their armed forces. So that they can better defend themselves. If they are safer, we will be safer."
The front
"
Emergency power outages resume in
Kiev today, everything is being done to guarantee electricity to each user for
2-3 hours twice a day
. Blackout programs for stabilization are not working", announced Dtek, cited by UNIAN.
"As soon as we can rebalance the situation, we will return to the hourly plan," added the company.
Blackouts resume in the capital for the first time since
November 23.
Meanwhile, on the ground, at least
6,655 civilians
have died and another
10,368
have been injured in
Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion,
the UN
announced today
, as reported by the
Kyiv Independent
.
The United Nations human rights agency points out that the real figures are probably much higher, also because many reports of civilian casualties have yet to be confirmed.
Russia
has likely halted the deployment of
battalion
battlegroups (BTGs)
to Ukraine over the past three months as these units proved insufficient in fighting in the country,
the British Defense Ministry
said in its daily intelligence update on the situation. in the country.
In the report, published on Twitter, the ministry recalls that the Btg concept has played an important role in Russian military doctrine over the past decade, and has seen these battalions - typically made up of around
600-800 personnel
- integrated with a full range sub-support units, including armored, reconnaissance and artillery.
However, several inherent weaknesses of the BTG concept have emerged in high-intensity, large-scale fighting in Ukraine, British experts say, pointing out that the
BTG's relatively small infantry fighting
force has often proved insufficient.
"The decentralized deployment of artillery did not allow Russia to fully exploit its advantage in terms of the number of weapons and few Btg commanders were able to flexibly exploit the opportunities" that the Btg model offered, he concludes the report.
Mediation
"This is not the time to talk about negotiations between Russia and Ukraine but to focus on
helping Ukraine ahead of the winter
".
A senior NATO diplomatic source let ANSA know, underlining that the war will probably last "beyond spring".
"We are not discussing whether or not to support Kiev in its goal of retaking Crimea simply because we have not reached that point and we need to proceed one step at a time", continued the source, commenting on the words of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, the Pope has relaunched his proposal for mediation in an interview with the Jesuit magazine 'America'.
However, the Russian ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeev, told the
RIA Novosti agency
that he had complained to the Holy See about
Francis' words
relating to
acts of cruelty by Russian troops
in Ukraine, in particular Buryats and Chechens.
"I expressed outrage at such insinuations and stressed that nothing can undermine the cohesion and unity of the multinational Russian people," the ambassador said.
In order to start negotiations for a solution to the conflict in Ukraine, Kiev's political will is needed and its willingness to
discuss Moscow's requests,
Kremlin spokesman
Dmitry Peskov
said instead, quoted by the Tass agency.
Meanwhile, the G7 Justice meeting has begun in Berlin.
The investigations into war crimes in Ukraine need to be better coordinated, according to what the German liberal minister
Marco Buschmann explained.
"War criminals should not go unpunished," he added.
The Italian Minister Carlo Nordio participates in the summit.