NATO Vows to Help Ukrainians Survive Winter Transcript

With winter approaching in Ukraine and below freezing temperatures in many parts of the country, Russia has destroyed or damaged 40% of Ukraine’s energy sector, leaving millions without heat, electricity, or water.

(00:16)
At a NATO foreign minister’s meeting on Tuesday in Bucharest, Romania focused on helping Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russian President, Vladimir Putin, of using winter as a weapon against the people of Ukraine.

President Putin is failing in Ukraine. He is responding with more brutality, attacking gas infrastructure, power lines, and trying to deprive the Ukrainians of water, electricity, light, and heating.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, agreed.

When we have transformers and generators, we can restore our system, our energy grid, and provide people with decent living conditions, which President Putin is trying to deprive them of.

Kuleba also called on NATO to provide more air defense weapons quickly, so Ukraine can break the vicious cycle of Russia destroying infrastructure, Ukraine repairing it, and Russia destroying it again. Russia denies it is targeting Ukrainian civilians.

(01:28)
Standing beside his Romanian counterpart, U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said the United States and its NATO allies will not be deterred by Russia’s aggression.

Russia has turned parts of the Black Sea into a war zone. We’ve seen missiles from warships coming into Ukrainian cities and towns. Russian forces of course of blocked Ukrainian ports, causing what has been the worst food security crisis in years.

The U.S. announced Tuesday that it’s providing Ukraine with more than $53 million in electricity grid assistance in addition to more than $55 million in emergency energy sector support for generators to help restore power and heat. Cindy Saine, VOA News.