The Ukrainian capital Kyiv reported multiple explosions likely caused by a series of Russian missile or drone strikes for the first time in weeks on Wednesday.
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in a post on Telegram that there were explosions in a central district of the capital that is home to many government agencies and buildings. He said municipal teams were in place and more details were expected.
The reported blasts come as Ukraine has faced a barrage of Russian air strikes across the country, largely targeting infrastructure, in recent weeks as well as continued fighting along the front lines in the eastern and southern regions.
It was not immediately clear what the targets were, or whether civilian, administrative or military sites were the aim.
The strikes also come following a U.S. announcement Tuesday that the country was poised to approve sending a Patriot missile battery to Ukraine, agreeing to an urgent request from Ukrainian leaders desperate for more robust weapons to shoot down incoming Russian missiles.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed Western leaders as recently as Monday to provide more advanced weapons to help his country in its war with Russia. The Patriot would be the most advanced surface-to-air missile system the West has provided to Ukraine to help repel Russian aerial attacks in the war between the countries that erupted with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.
U.S. officials also said last week that Moscow has been looking to Iran to resupply the Russian military with drones and surface-to-surface missiles.
Ukrainian authorities said that during the latest round of volleys on Dec. 5, more than 60 of 70 strikes were intercepted by air defense systems. Klitschko said Ukrainian forces shot down 10 self-explosive drones over Kyiv and the region Wednesday.
The U.S. Army describes the Patriot – which consists of multiple parts including a radar, a control station, power generating equipment and up to eight launchers – as its "most advanced air defense system."
While dozens of personnel are assigned to a battery, only three are required to operate it in combat.
The U.S. Army's first Patriot battalion was activated in 1982, but the system was not used in combat until 1991 during Operation Desert Storm, the international air and ground offensive against Iraqi forces who had invaded Kuwait.
Patriot has intercepted more than 150 ballistic missiles in combat since 2015 and has also undergone more than 3,000 ground and 1,400 flight tests, primary contractor Raytheon says.
When Russia invaded in February, Ukraine's air defenses largely consisted of Soviet-era planes and missile systems, which Kyiv used effectively to deny Moscow air superiority.
They have since been significantly augmented: the United States provided NASAMS and Germany offered IRIS-T – two advanced systems – while older equipment such as the S-300 and HAWK systems and Stinger missiles have also been donated.
Earlier Tuesday, Ukraine's Western allies pledged an additional 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) in emergency winter aid, responding to pleas from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to help the country withstand Russia's onslaught against its energy grid.
Around 70 countries and international organizations gathered in Paris for a meeting aimed at enabling Ukrainians "to get through this winter," said French President Emmanuel Macron.
In a video message, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed assistance worth around 800 million euros in the short term for its battered energy sector.
"Of course, it is a very high amount, but the cost is less than the cost of a potential blackout," Zelenskyy told the conference via video link.
Pledges for the energy sector comprised 400 million euros of the funds raised on Tuesday, France's Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said.
Ukraine needs spare parts for repairs, high-capacity generators, extra gas as well as increased electricity imports, Zelenskyy said.
"Generators have become as necessary as armored vehicles and bullet-proof jackets," he said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said 40 to 50% of the country's grid was out of action because of Russia's strikes.
Many areas of the country have power for only a few hours a day.
Another 1.5 million people were left without power in southern Odessa over the weekend after Russian drone attacks.
"They want to put us into darkness and it will fail, thanks to our partners all over the world," Shmygal told delegates.
Melitopol is an important transport hub for Russian forces in the region of Zaporizhzhia and is key for Ukraine's hopes of liberating the south of the country.
The bridge in the eastern suburbs "was damaged by terrorists," Vladimir Rogov, a Moscow-installed regional official, said on the Telegram messaging app.
He did not specify the extent of the damage, but images on his social media accounts showed that a middle section of the bridge had collapsed.
Elsewhere on Tuesday, Belarus held a surprise inspection of its armed forces, raising fears of a possible escalation in the conflict.
Belarus is a close ally of Moscow, but Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko has repeatedly said he does not plan to send Belarusian troops to Ukraine.
The digital platform, announced by G7 leaders on Monday, will enable Ukraine to list its requirements and allow international donors to coordinate their responses in real time.
"A large number of countries will use this mechanism – all the members to the European Union, but it will go beyond to other partners, including non-European partners," Colonna told reporters.
A similar platform exists for military aid, which is coordinated via meetings of Ukraine's Western allies at the U.S.-run Ramstein military base in Germany.
Macron hosted Tuesday's conference alongside Zelenskyy's wife Olena, giving the French leader an opportunity to reaffirm his support for Kyiv.
He condemned Russia's "cynical" and "cowardly" attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.
"These strikes ... which Russia openly admits are designed to break the resistance of the Ukrainian people, are war crimes," Macron said in his opening address.
"They violate without any doubt the most basic principles of humanitarian law," he said.
"These acts are intolerable and will not go unpunished."
The French president has riled some of his allies in Kyiv in the past, most notably in June when he said "we must not humiliate Russia."
On Dec. 3, he also called for Russia to be offered "security guarantees" at the end of the war, drawing criticism from some Ukrainian and eastern European politicians who believe the focus should be on pushing back Moscow's forces militarily.
"As of now, 174,000 square kilometers (67,000 square miles) of Ukrainian territory are contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance," Zelenskyy said, calling Russia's nearly year-old invasion as an "ecocide" that would have a lasting impact.
"There is no real peace for any child who can die from a hidden Russian antipersonnel mine."
In Russia, the Kremlin announced that Putin will not hold his annual end-of-year press conference this year, a break with tradition.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave no reason for not holding the event that Putin has hosted almost every year he has been in power since 2000.
