Russian drone attacks target Kyiv’s critical infrastructure

Bloomberg

Explosions were heard on Monday in Kyiv as the city government said drones further damaged the capital’s critical infrastructure. That followed a warning by an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that Russia could sharply escalate the war in a winter offensive driven by mass infantry and that Western allies needed to be prepared.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will attend a 10-nation meeting in Latvia to discuss further air-defense support for Ukraine, according to his office. Ukraine is repairing key infrastructure after Russian missile strikes, the ninth major barrage since early October.
Russia has launched over 4,000 missiles at Ukraine since the start of its full-scale invasion, Zelenskiy said. The Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin met with military commanders and asked for “proposals” on the next steps in the war.
Ukrainian troops intercepted 18 out of 23 drones launched by Russia overnight at Kyiv, news agency Ukrinform said, citing the city’s military authorities. Troops in Ukraine also repelled assaults near 15 settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions in the east over the past day, according to a Facebook post from the general staff.
Zelenskiy called on leaders of the UK, and of the Nordic and Baltic countries to provide air defense and weapons to fight against Russian missiles.
“Please maintain the same level of cooperation,” Zelenskiy said in a video address. “I call on you to do everything to accelerate the defeat of the occupiers.”
Factories are working around the clock to meet the Russian military’s demand for tanks and munitions, Vladimir Artyakov, first deputy CEO of the state defense corporation Rostec, said in an interview on Rossiya 24.
Production of tanks grew significantly and of ammunition “tens and hundreds of times,” Artaykov said, without providing any data. Russia also boosted output of its Iskander short-range missile systems, he said.
Russia has also stepped up production of drones, Artyakov said, adding that the military had too few of them when it started the invasion of Ukraine “and they were not particularly given importance.” US intelligence has accused others of supplying Russia with drones used to attack Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure, something the Kremlin denies.

Putin arrives in Belarus for talks with Lukashenko

Bloomberg

Russian leader Vladimir Putin arrived in Belarus for talks with President Alexander Lukashenko on his first visit in more than three years to his ally in the war against Ukraine.
Lukashenko greeted Putin at the airport in the capital Minsk. The two presidents plan to discuss the military situation as well as economic issues including gas sales, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, the state-run Tass news service reported.
While Lukashenko has repeatedly visited Russia since Putin ordered the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, the Kremlin leader is making his first trip to Belarus since June 2019. Lukashenko allowed Russian forces to enter Ukraine from Belarus in their failed attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, at the start of the war and has consistently backed Putin’s invasion, while holding back
from sending his own military to join the fight. The US and the EU have sanctioned Lukashenko’s regime for aiding Russia in the war.