KYIV: Ukraine urged the West on Wednesday to speed up and increase deliveries of artillery shells after a “massive” new Russian missile attack on Kyiv and other regions killed at least five people and wounded more than 40.

Securing the shells has been a priority for Kyiv, which is burning through its reserves as Russia throws more manpower and resources at the frontlines almost two years into its invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced “another massive attack” by Russia, which targeted a residential high-rise building in Kyiv, where four people were killed, as well as the south and west of the country.

The strikes came as the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, visited Kyiv and had to descend into a bomb shelter during the attack. His Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba appeared to mount pressure for more military aid.

MPs vote to permit use of dead soldiers’ sperm

“If you ask a soldier at the front what he needs most now, the answer will be shells,” Kuleba told Borrell, calling for “urgent steps” to increase deliveries.

“The scale of the war and Russia’s use of artillery reached a level for which, let’s be honest, the European defence industry was not ready,” he added. Kuleba also said Ukraine found infighting in the US Congress over the future of American aid “confusing”, days after Republican lawmakers resisted new support for the war-torn country.

US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told a news conference in Brussels alongside Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that the United States “can and will” deliver the needed aid. Stoltenberg said such a move was “vital”.

Ukraine has been running out of reserves for weeks, worrying that its Western allies have grown tired of the war. Borrell insisted Western countries should keep helping Ukraine battle off Russian forces.

“We need to support you not only ‘as long as it takes’ but should provide ‘whatever it takes’,” the EU diplomat said.

Reproductive material

Ukrainian MPs on Wednesday backed measures to allow soldiers’ frozen sperm to be used if they are killed on the front, after an earlier law ordering its disposal triggered uproar.

As deaths mount among Ukraine’s young men fighting in the two-year war against Russia, and with further military call-ups being mulled, the nation’s fertility policies have been in the spotlight.

Lawmakers in Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada voted for a package of amendments to enable the partners of dead soldiers to use frozen reproductive material posthumously.

The measures alter a December law which mandated that the state start paying for the storage of soldiers’ sperm and eggs from 2025. But after that law was approved, medical lawyer Olena Babych penned a widely read Facebook post highlighting that it also called for the disposal of samples taken from donors who subsequently die.

That triggered a storm of criticism.

MPs and the health ministry vowed to change it before the law was due to come into force next month. A total of 264 MPs backed Wednesday’s amendments that also ensure samples are kept for free for three years after a donor dies, with the option of paid storage thereafter.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2024