(Bloomberg) -- Ukraine is seeking more air defense systems ahead of winter to protect its energy infrastructure from the type of Russian attacks that caused massive blackouts across the country last year, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's deputy chief of staff said.
Air defense support is needed ahead of a “very difficult” period “when Russia will renew shelling the critical infrastructure of Ukraine and energy objects, endangering lives of people,” Ihor Zhovkva said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “We need as many additional air defense systems, ammunition as possible.”
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised on Thursday to supply Kyiv with a second Patriot air-defense system after meeting Zelenskiy, while the Spanish government pledged six additional Hawk air-defense systems to help shield key infrastructure. Last month, Russia launched the largest missile barrage to target Ukraine's power grid since early spring, leaving parts of five regions, including the one around the capital, without electricity.
Zelenskiy traveled this week to Granada, Spain, to meet with European leaders to press for continued support against Russia's invasion amid concerns about the continued flow of US aid. Apart from air defense, Zelenskiy also discussed exports of Ukrainian grain with his counterparts and Kyiv's progress in implementing reforms needed to start accession talks with the European Union, Zhovkva said.
“We have all the reasons to expect that in the end of this year we will get the decision on beginning of the accession negotiations,” he said.
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