Sawt Falasteen - Ukraine claims new gains, welcomes Western air defence pledge

A US-led group of some 50 countries held talks at NATO headquarters in Brussels and vowed to deliver new air defences to Ukraine, which is reeling from Russian strikes that left scores dead and wounded as well as villages and towns without power and hot water across the country.

"The systems will be provided, as fast as we can physically get them there," United States Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said after the meeting, without giving any further details.

And in a further show of Western solidarity, the G7 vowed to "stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes," while International Monetary Fund chief Kristalina Georgieva pledged financial help for the sake of "moving with you in the direction of a strong Ukraine."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who has described the Russian missile attacks as an act of terrorism and has pressed the West for an "air shield", welcomed the pledge of anti-missile systems.

"The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe today," Zelensky said later Wednesday in his daily address to the nation.

- 'Come back to the table' -

In an interview Wednesday, French President Emmanuel Macron also promised air defence help to Kyiv.

"We're going to deliver... radars, systems and missiles to protect them from these attacks," Macron said, adding that France was also negotiating to send another six Caesar mobile artillery units.

It was not immediately clear whether the weapons promised by Macron were part of the commitment made in Brussels or whether they were separate.

Macron also called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to resume diplomatic negotiations with Kyiv.

"Today, first of all, Vladimir Putin must stop this war, respect Ukraine's territorial integrity and come back to the table for talks," Macron told broadcaster France 2.

- 'Up to the Ukrainians to decide' -

Russia for two days pummelled Ukraine with missiles, damaging energy facilities nationwide, in attacks that Putin said were retaliation for last weeks' deadly explosion at a Crimea bridge.

Moscow's FSB security service said Wednesday it detained eight suspects over the blast that ripped through the road and rail bridge connecting Crimea to Russia and serving as a vital transport link for moving military equipment for its soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

But Moscow also claimed to have foiled two more attacks that Ukrainian special services allegedly planned to carry out on Russian territory.

Putin has vowed a "severe" response to any further attack on Russia and what Moscow considers to be its territory, including Crimea.

In a sign of continued international pressure on Moscow, the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia's annexation of parts of Ukraine after Moscow vetoed a similar effort in the Security Council.

And the Czech government announced it would ban Russian tourists, artists and athletes holding visas for the free-travel Schengen zone issued by any EU member from entering the country.

- 'A new era of air defence' -

Kyiv said Wednesday that it had retaken five more settlements in the southern region of Kherson -- one of the four territories Moscow said it annexed in late September -- in the latest setback for Russia's campaign.

The Russian military meanwhile said it had fended off Ukrainian attacks in the eastern Donetsk, Lugansk and Kharkiv regions.

And Russian strikes on the frontline town of Avdiivka killed at least eight people at a market, the Ukraine-appointed chief of the region said.

Some of the anti-aircraft defence systems pledged by Western allies began arriving in Ukraine this week.

"A new era of air defence has begun in Ukraine," Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted on Tuesday, announcing the arrival of Germany's Iris-Ts and the upcoming delivery of NASAMS from Washington.

On the frontline in Donetsk, Western weapons have helped boost Ukrainian morale and the abilities of Kyiv's forces.

"We definitely need more artillery," said an officer who gave his name as "Sergiy" with Ukraine's 5th Regiment on a hill overlooking Russian-held Gorlivka in Donetsk.

"When it comes to artillery, they still have an advantage so we can't return fire equally.

"We are firing more precisely now, but with fewer strikes," Sergiy said.

Also Wednesday UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi arrived in Kyiv for talks on setting up a nuclear safety and protection zone around Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant.

K.AbuTaha--SF-PST