G7 commits to Ukraine’s ‘urgent’ air defense needs

• Russian missiles, artillery, and drones hit eastern and southern Ukraine.
• Global economic powers committed to bolster Kyiv’s military capabilities.
• The G7 promised Monday to meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements.

Russian missiles, artillery, and drones hit eastern and southern Ukraine as global economic powers committed to bolster Kyiv’s military capabilities, focusing on air defenses.

The G7 promised Monday to “meet Ukraine’s urgent requirements” after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked for new tanks, artillery, and long-range weapons against Russia’s incursion.

He also urged the G7 to help Kyiv secure 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in light of Ukraine’s grave energy constraints as millions wallow without electricity in subzero cold after Russian air assaults on crucial infrastructure.

Separately, EU foreign ministers agreed Monday to add 2 billion euros to a fund used to pay for Ukraine’s military support after it was drained during 10 months of war. Later top-ups are possible.

British defense minister Ben Wallace said he would be “open-minded” considering arming Ukraine with longer-range missiles if Russia continued striking civilian areas.

Russia employed Iranian-made drones to attack two energy installations in Ukraine’s Black Sea town of Odesa on Saturday. Slowly restoring power to 1.5 million customers is tough, Ukrenergo warned Monday.

Ukraine’s General Staff claimed its forces withstood Russian assaults on four settlements in Donetsk and eight in Luhansk.

Moscow claims to have annexed two areas in eastern and southern Ukraine after unlawful “referendums.”

Later in the evening, the General Staff reported Russian artillery had pounded over 20 front-line communities around Bakhmut, which Moscow wants to seize but is mainly in ruins.

Ukraine says Russian forces are losing heavily in dug-in fighting on the eastern front.

A senior U.S. military official said Monday that Russia is burning through so much ammunition that it’s using decades-old munitions with significant failure rates.

At least two people were killed and five injured in Kherson on Monday when Russian forces “massively shelled” the city, which Ukrainian forces took last month.

The Kremlin said Monday that President Putin will not hold his usual, marathon-like year-end press conference this month.

Zelenskyy added Kyiv, four western districts, and the Dnipropetrovsk region in the center of the country also have “extremely challenging” power supplies.

UN aid director Martin Griffiths came in Ukraine on Monday to see “the effect of the humanitarian response and new challenges.”

Jan Egeland, chairman of the Norwegian Refugee Council, said “unlivable conditions” might lead hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian refugees to Europe this winter.

Egeland worried Europe’s crisis would intensify and eclipse others.

UN: 18 million Ukrainians, or 40% of the population, depend on aid. 7.8 million have gone for Europe.

EU foreign ministers debated a ninth package of penalties against Russia over the invasion but did not agree, EU foreign policy director Josep Borrell told reporters. He hoped a deal would be reached later this week.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Washington’s $50bn aid to Ukraine’s military and economy would continue “as long as it takes.”

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