Kiev ( Ukraine ) - (AFP) - Ukraine continues to receive military assistance from its Western allies to defend its airspace in the face of Russian strikes, while Moscow is awaiting an offer of mediation from Turkey during a meeting in Kazakhstan between the presidents of the two countries on Thursday.

Kiev, which confirmed that it had recovered areas from the Russians in the south of the country, welcomed the support of its Western allies, who promised to provide anti-aircraft defenses "as soon as possible" after a wave of bombing operations.
The Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Jens Stoltenberg, confirmed that providing these systems capable of neutralizing Russian missiles in the skies of Ukraine is a "priority".

The Group of Seven major countries and the International Monetary Fund confirmed on Wednesday that they would support Ukraine "as long as necessary" to deal with the economic consequences of the Russian invasion, which amount to billions of dollars.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily speech that "the main issue is to cover our budget deficit and quickly rebuild infrastructure," expressing his thanks to the allied countries.

The new promises came as Ukraine has faced, since Monday, "big" batches of missiles, missiles and drones, targeting the civilian energy infrastructure in particular, in response to the bombing on the Crimean bridge on Saturday, which Moscow attributed to Kiev.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiych Reznikov spoke of a "new phase of air defense" with the arrival of the "Iris-T+ system from Germany" and the imminent delivery of the American "NASAMS" systems, he said.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom announced that it would provide Ukraine with additional air defense missiles, including ammunition capable of shooting down cruise missiles.

The British Ministry of Defense confirmed that the AMRAAM missiles, which will be delivered "in the coming weeks" to Kiev for use by the US-promised "NASAMS" air defense system, are the first offered by London and are capable of shooting down cruise missiles.

On Wednesday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron promised anti-aircraft "radars, systems and missiles", without specifying a date for their delivery.

He reiterated that France was working with Denmark to send six Caesars artillery, in addition to the 18 others that had already been delivered.

In a virtual meeting with the Group of Seven on Tuesday, Zelensky asked for help in creating an "air shield," warning that Mr. Putin "still has the means for escalation."

At the same time, the 27 member states of the European Union agreed to organize a military mission to train Ukrainian forces in a number of member states. Two diplomats said that would initially involve about 15,000 troops.

The head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said early Thursday morning that Russia had bombed the capital, Kiev, with Iranian-made drones. "Another suicide drone attack on critical infrastructure," he said, without elaborating.

And the mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevich, said Thursday in a telegram that this city in southern Ukraine, which was heavily bombed by the Russian army, was subjected to "intensive bombing" at night, which led to the destruction of the upper two floors of a five-storey residential building.

The Ukrainian presidency said on Wednesday that the Ukrainian forces had regained five towns on the southern front in Kherson, one of four regions Moscow announced its annexation, which constitutes a new setback for the Russian army, which has been retreating in this region as well as in the northeast and east since the beginning of September.

And the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that the Russian forces repelled the Ukrainians in the small pocket of the Kharkiv region (northeast) that is still under Moscow's control, in the north of the Kherson region and in the two regions located in the east of Donetsk and Luhansk.
In the east, Ukrainian authorities announced the discovery of two mass graves in towns in the Donetsk region that were recently recaptured from Russian forces.

In Liman, an AFP journalist said a forensic team wearing protective gear recovered dozens of bodies at the railway junction that was recaptured by Ukrainian forces in early October.

The Kremlin announced on Wednesday that it expects Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to present to his Russian counterpart, during a meeting between them in Kazakhstan, on Thursday, a concrete proposal for mediation over the conflict in Ukraine.

The Kremlin's diplomatic advisor, Yuri Ushakov, told reporters, "The Turks are offering their mediation. If (Russian-Ukrainian) contacts will take place, they will take place on" Turkish territory.

He confirmed that he expected "a useful and interesting discussion".

Amid fears of a possible nuclear accident, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, returned to Kiev, in agreement with Zelensky, he wrote on Twitter, after meeting Vladimir Putin as part of his efforts to create a "protection zone" around the Zaporizhia nuclear plant.

At the same time, the United Nations General Assembly condemned Wednesday, by an overwhelming majority, the "illegal annexations" of Ukrainian lands, and thus sent, according to US President Joe Biden, a "clear message" to Moscow.