Description
Added on the 16/12/2022 08:51:26 - Copyright : Euronews EN
Sweden joining NATO shows Russian President Vladimir Putin "failed" in his Ukrainian war strategy of weakening the alliance, its chief Jens Stoltenberg says. The Kremlin's invasion not only prompted formerly non-aligned nations Sweden and Finland to come under NATO's defence umbrella, but now "Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before," Stoltenberg adds. SOUNDBITE
US President Joe Biden says during his State of the Union address that Ukraine is capable of stopping Putin if the US provides Kyiv the "weapons it needs to defend itself." SOUNDBITE
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to use the Israel-Hamas war in a bid to reduce Western support for Ukraine. "Putin is very much trying to take advantage of the Hamas attack on Israel in the hopes that it will distract us... and that it will result in the United States pulling back its resources" from Ukraine, Blinken tells a Senate hearing. SOUNDBITE
Images show air defence intercepting nighttime drone attacks and smoke rising above the city in Lviv, Ukraine, the day after the attacks. According to Lviv mayor Andriy Sadovyi three warehouses were destroyed and one person was killed. Ukraine says its air defence systems had downed 27 Shahed drones launched overnight in Russia's latest aerial barrage. "A total of 30 attack UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) were launched... As a result of combat work, 27 Shaheds were shot down by air defence units," the Ukrainian air force said on social media. IMAGES
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warns Moscow not to use the alleged drone attack that it said targeted the Kremlin to escalate its war in Ukraine. "We call on Russia not to use this alleged attack as an excuse to continue the escalation of the war," Borrell tells journalists in Brussels as he attends an EU ministers meeting. SOUNDBITE
Images of badly damaged buildings and rescue teams in the aftermath of a Russian drone strike that hit a vocational school, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of Kyiv. The military administration of Kyiv region said three people were killed and seven injured. IMAGES