Casualties in Mutual Attacks Between Moscow and Kyiv, NATO Aims to Accelerate Weapons Production

SadaNews - Thirteen people were killed and injured in new waves of mutual attacks between Russia and Ukraine, while a NATO military official urged member states to reconsider defense issues and produce more weapons.

Ukrainian prosecutors in the Kharkiv region reported early Thursday that a woman injured in a Russian attack died from her wounds in hospital.

They indicated that nine people were injured in airstrikes on two neighborhoods in the city, which is a repeated target for Russian forces and located 30 kilometers from the border, while a man was killed in his car in a nearby neighborhood in a drone attack.

Reuters reported local officials in Izmail in southwestern Ukraine stating that the city was subjected to an attack that damaged the port and energy facilities.

Meanwhile, on the Russian side of the border, Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod, stated that Ukrainian drones killed an 18-year-old while riding a motorcycle in a village near the border, and a woman in her car in the town of Grayvoron.

In Moscow, Mayor Sergey Sobyanin announced that Russia intercepted 17 Ukrainian drones and destroyed them as they headed toward the capital on Wednesday, while the Russian Defense Ministry reported that its air defense units shot down 389 Ukrainian drones, some over Moscow.

Yesterday, six people were killed and at least 46 others were injured as a result of a Russian drone and missile attack on areas in Ukraine, according to the Associated Press citing officials, while a fire broke out at the Russian port of Ust-Luga following a drone attack by Ukraine.

Recently, the intensity of mutual attacks between Moscow and Kyiv has escalated as the war enters its fifth year, with international media stating that the Russian army has intensified efforts to penetrate Ukrainian front-line defenses, which may be the beginning of an anticipated ground offensive in the spring.

Russia has changed

Amid the Russian-Ukrainian war and the conflict in the Middle East between the United States, Israel, and Iran, Supreme Allied Commander Transformation of NATO Admiral Pierre de Villiers stated that NATO member countries urgently need to review how to ensure their defense.

At a security and defense forum in Paris, he noted that a large number of countries have not yet fully grasped the magnitude of the challenge, especially regarding the enhancement of weapons production.

He emphasized that "Russia has changed," stressing the necessity for NATO countries to be prepared to face what he called a "new enemy," adapting to produce more weapons and faster, and urged allies to make the right choices.

De Villiers pointed out that "it is not about money, but about speed," warning that ignoring this could lead to a repetition of what the Gulf experienced, referring to the attacks launched by Iran against Gulf states since the end of February in what Tehran claims to be targeting American interests.

He highlighted the need for NATO to respond to different challenges, including the production of drones by Russia and Iran in large quantities, with rapidly developing capabilities.

In this context, the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, General Fabian Mandon, said that France must be prepared in the next three or four years to face Russia.

The French Institute for International Relations warned last November that Europe may face difficulties in quickly producing enough weapons in the event of a direct confrontation with Russia.

Source: Agencies