Ukraine war briefing: Boost to Patriot missile supplies for Kyiv – other countries will have to wait | Ukraine

US will ship at the latest Patriot missiles are ‘rolling off the production line’. Ukraine instead of other countries it ordered them, the White House said Thursday. “We will reorient the supply of these exports,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council. It also applies to Nasams, another type of anti-aircraft missile. “Deliveries of these missiles to other countries that are currently in the queue will have to be delayed,” Kirby said, although deliveries to Taiwan and Israel will not be affected.

Asked about the timing of the Patriot decision, the Pentagon cited Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure. “What we’re seeing is that Russia is again trying to destroy Ukraine’s energy system and infrastructure before winter, and so they urgently need … additional air defense capabilities,” said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed Thursday Romania’s decision to provide Ukraine with one of its two Patriot systems.

Ukrainian drones hit a Russian air base in a second night of attacks on the Krasnodar region, reports online. Russian emergency services, writing on the Telegram messaging app, confirmed three municipalities of Krasnodar were subjected to a “massive attack”. This was reported by the Russian journalist-run social media channel Astra Yeisk, where a military airport is located, was hit by drones and then there were fires, and posted eyewitness videos. NASA’s fire monitoring satellite indicated fires or hot spots at the air base. The Krasnodar Territory is located across the Kerch Strait from the Crimea.

Ukraine can use US-supplied weapons to hit Russian forces firing on Ukrainian troops everywhere across the border with Russia and not just on Russian territory near Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the Pentagon said. “It’s self-defense, and so it makes sense that they could do it,” Ryder said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told PBS this week that Ukraine could, too use air defense systems to shoot down aircraft in Russian airspace preparing to bomb Ukraine. Last month, Joe Biden authorized Ukraine to launch US-supplied missiles into Russia, but officials said at the time that this only applied to targets related to Russia’s offensive in the Kharkiv region.

Volodymyr Zelensky announced measures for protection of Ukraine’s energy system, including protecting power plants under Russian fire and the development of alternative and renewable energy sources. According to official figures, drone and missile strikes have shut down half of production facilities since March. Attacks overnight Thursday hit four regions and knocked out power to more than 218,000 customers, the energy ministry said.

Zelensky outlined development plans solar energy and energy storage facilities, “decentralized energy capacity”and schedule for critical infrastructure objects to invent alternative sources of energy. The work, he said, must be completed before winter and increased energy use.

South Korea will consider sending weapons to Ukraine after Russia and North Korea signed a military pact that infuriated the South’s leadership. “This is absurd two countries with a history of starting wars of aggression – the Korean War and the Ukraine War — are now promising mutual military cooperation on the premise of a pre-emptive strike by the international community, which will never happen,” said the office of Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s president.

At the UN, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul called on him “pity” that Russia was now violating the UN sanctions against North Korea that it voted to impose. South Korea is a growing arms exporter with a well-equipped U.S.-backed military, but does not typically supply arms to countries actively engaged in conflict.

Speaking to reporters in Hanoi, where he is traveling immediately after Pyongyang, Putin said Thursday that arms delivery to Ukraine would be a “very big mistake” on South Korea’s part and said it could do the same for North Korea – a comment that contradicted the fact that in the Ukraine war it was Russia that had to rely in part on arms supply by the Kim Jong-un regime.

The Russians on Thursday reported Payment processing problems at major banks following distributed denial of service (DDoS) cyber attack, writes the Russian newspaper Kommersant. The newspaper said messaging app Telegram and major mobile phone networks were also affected. The IT Army of Ukraine, a volunteer hacker group claimed responsibility.

Ukrainian Center for Giving bionic and prosthetic limbs of soldiers has expanded its main hospital and intends to open others. Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have lost limbs to bombings and mines since the full-scale invasion in 2022. Filip Grushko, co-founder of Superhuman Center, said the new hospital wing opened in Lviv on Thursday will help meet demand for prosthetics and reconstructive surgery, fitting 70-75 prostheses and conducting 30-45 reconstructive surgeries a month. A 4,000 sq m facility, soon to open in Odessa, will include a prosthetics laboratory and rehabilitation salon.

With Agence France-Presse, Reuters and Associated Press