Norway has pledged to send half a dozen F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, becoming the fourth country to promise to send the vital weaponry.
Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said the jets would be delivered later this year, as reported by the local newspaper Verdens Gang (VG). The total number of F-16s pledged is 86, although they will arrive over several years.
Meanwhile, the White House announced that NATO allies are set to promise a minimum of $40 billion (£31.2 billion) to Ukraine for the next calendar year during the summit in Washington.
The uptick in support comes after Russia launched one of its most fatal attacks across Ukraine on Monday, killing at least 41 in the capital and around a dozen elsewhere. More than 150 people were wounded. It was Russia’s heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in almost four months, hitting seven of the city’s 10 districts.
The Okhmatdyt children’s hospital in central Kyiv was among several medical facilities destroyed during that attack.
Local mayor Vitaliy Klitschko told The Independent that the attack showed Russia was guilty of “genocide”, while the United Nations refuted claims by Russia that they were not responsible for the attack.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky promised retaliation, writing on Telegram, “The Russian terrorists must answer for this.” He also called for Kyiv’s Western allies to respond firmly.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk deplored Russia’s attacks, saying: “Among the victims were Ukraine’s sickest children.”
In Russia, a fire broke out at a power substation in the Rostov region after Ukraine launched “tens” of drones overnight, according to Vasily Golubev, governor of the southern border region with Ukraine.
Three Russian civilians were killed and several others wounded in the Belgorod border region when Ukrainian shells hit a village there, the governor said.
Ukraine’s navy chief Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa told the Reuters news agency that the Russian navy’s Black Sea Fleet has been forced to rebase nearly all its combat-ready warships from occupied Crimea to other locations, and its main naval hub is becoming ineffectual because of attacks by Kyiv.
US says Ukraine is on an ‘irreversible’ path to NATO, but only after the War
Ukraine is on an “irreversible” path to NATO membership, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday, advancing American assurances that the country will be allowed to join the Western military alliance, but only after its war with Russia ends.
A joint communique from all 32 NATO allies meeting in Washington cemented that “irreversible” NATO commitment to Ukraine, a European official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss it before its release.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky has battled for at least a firm guarantee from NATO that Ukraine can join the military alliance.
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg underlined that Ukraine will not join the alliance’s ranks immediately, but he insisted that must happen after the war is over to ensure that Russia never attacks Ukraine again.
Of the overall NATO assistance, he said, “We are not doing this because we want to prolong a war. We are doing it because we want to end a war as soon as possible.
The alliance welcomed Ukraine’s democratic, economic and security reforms needed to join, and said it would get an invitation “when allies agree and conditions are met.”
Compiled by Ana Dumbadze
