<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Ukraine urged NATO members Tuesday to speed up weapons deliveries and help restore its shattered power grid, as Western allies vowed to bolster support to aid Kyiv through winter in the face of Russia's attacks.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Moscow has unleashed waves of strikes against Ukraine's energy infrastructure as its troops are pushed back on the ground, plunging millions of people into darkness.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for supplies of weapons, especially advanced air defence systems, to come "faster, faster, faster" as he joined a two-day meeting of NATO foreign ministers in the Romanian capital Bucharest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"When we have transformers and generators, we can restore our system, our energy grid, and provide people with decent living conditions," Kuleba said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"When we have air defence systems, we will be able to protect this infrastructure from the next Russian missile strikes."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"In a nutshell, Patriots and transformers is what Ukraine needs the most", he said, referring to the US-made Patriot missile defence system.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The appeal came as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of targeting infrastructure in a bid to use the winter as "a weapon of war" against Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stoltenberg said NATO allies had pledged more support for Ukraine to fix its infrastructure and would keep on sending arms and air defences to help it better protect itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said there was an "ongoing discussion" on supplying the Patriot systems that Washington and others have so far refused to give to Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"NATO is not a party to the war. But we will continue to support Ukraine. For as long as it takes, we will not back down," Stoltenberg said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">He said he expected Russia to carry out more attacks on Ukraine's grid as the Kremlin suffers defeats on the ground and warned Europe should "be prepared for more refugees".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has announced a package worth $53 million "to support acquisition of critical electricity grid equipment" by Kyiv.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A senior US official said the assistance would not be the last and pointed out that the Biden administration had budgeted $1.1 billion for energy spending in Ukraine and neighbouring Moldova.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>- 'Keep calm, give tanks' -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Allies have given arms worth billions of dollars to Ukraine, but Kyiv is pleading for more air defence, tanks and longer-range missiles to push the Kremlin's forces back.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But there are growing concerns that weapon stores in some NATO countries are running low as stockpiles have been diverted to Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his request to fellow NATO ministers was simple: "Keep calm and give tanks".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Germany, which currently chairs the G7, convened a meeting on the sidelines of the NATO gathering to discuss the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Germany's foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said the participants had looked to "better understand and prioritise the most urgent needs" ahead of an international conference in Paris on December 13.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Separately, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and said Germany would dispatch 350 generators and provide financial assistance to repair energy infrastructure worth 56 million euros ($57 million).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Zelensky said they had discussed cooperation, both bilateral and in international institutions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The priorities are clear -- protection against missile terror, energy restoration, food security," Zelensky said in his daily video address late Tuesday, noting that "the situation at the front is difficult".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Despite extremely big Russian losses, the occupiers are still trying to advance in the Donetsk region, gain a foothold in the Luhansk region, move in the Kharkiv region, they are planning something in the south," he said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>"But we are holding out."</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>- 'Door is open' -</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NATO said the meeting in Bucharest has showcased its unity on continuing to support Ukraine as Moscow's war against its neighbour drags into its 10th month.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The alliance did not, however, make any progress on Ukraine's request to join, despite reiterating it remained committed to its pledge made some 14 years ago that Kyiv would one day become a member.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Stoltenberg insisted the "door is open" to new members but said the focus now was on assisting Ukraine in its fight with Moscow.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Oleksiy Arestovych, an aide to the Ukrainian president, said "several concrete and important announcements were made" at the summit.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Ukraine can become a member of the alliance after the end of hostilities" and "support to Ukraine will be expanded in terms of energy and military," he noted in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Besides the war in Ukraine, the ministers will take stock of progress in the accession of NATO candidates Finland and Sweden, already ratified by 28 of the 30 member countries but which remains suspended awaiting a green light from Hungary and Turkey.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Finnish, Swedish and Turkish foreign ministers met on the sidelines of the meeting, but Ankara did not signal that there had been any progress. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>