Over the past year, NATO allies have allocated over $10 billion for the purchase of American weapons for Ukraine. This was announced by the Secretary General of the Alliance, Mark Rutte, during the meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine in the “Rammstein“ format, writes korrespondent.net.
The funds are provided under the PURL program and the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS), with $3.5 billion of them coming from the EU loan to support the country. According to Rutte, deliveries are continuing without interruption, with a focus on strengthening air defenses ahead of the cold snap.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska arrived in Oslo, Norway, to attend the funeral of King Harald V, eurointegration.com reported. The visit combines state protocol with critical diplomatic defense talks. Zelensky held an emergency meeting with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, at which they discussed Ukraine's winter preparations, deliveries of air defense interceptor missiles, and progress on the European-wide anti-ballistic missile program FREYJA initiated by Kiev.
The urgent measures to protect Ukrainian skies are necessary due to serious intelligence. According to a Bloomberg report based on European official sources, Russian President Vladimir Putin intends to intensify attacks on Ukraine's civilian, energy, and heating infrastructure in the winter, meduza.io reports. The analysis emphasizes that the Kremlin is trying to break the resistance of the population and test the resolve of the West, seeking to secure a stronger position for possible negotiations, which are unlikely to begin before 2027.
In response to the threats, Ukraine is also developing its own military-industrial complex. The Luch design bureau has developed an entirely new guided missile for the Vilkha missile complex, called the R-624MS. The new high-precision 300 mm caliber ammunition has a range of up to 110 kilometers and is equipped with a 220-kilogram warhead. The designers have implemented a new concept for a rotating tail unit, ensuring continuous satellite communication and higher accuracy when hitting ground targets.