EU official: Additional military support going to Ukraine after Russian attacks

The European Union is sending additional military and financial support to Ukraine after Russia launched a wave of missile strikes in cities across Ukraine.

Josep Borrell Fontelles, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, called Ukraine Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday to discuss the missile strikes and additional support for the country.

According to a readout summary of the call, Fontelles underlined how targeting civilians is a war crime prohibited under international humanitarian law and said the EU would continue its political, military and economic support for Ukraine as long as needed.

Shortly after the shelling attacks on Monday, Fontelles tweeted that “support from the EU is on its way.”

“Deeply shocked by Russia’s attacks on civilians in Kyiv and other cities in Ukraine,” Fontelles wrote. “Such acts have no place in 21st century. I condemn them in the strongest possible terms.”

International leaders across the Western world condemned the attacks, which killed at least five civilians in Kyiv and another 20 in the southeastern city of Zaporizhia, while Russian shelling pounded several other Ukrainian cities and civilian infrastructure.

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the strikes in retaliation for the explosion on the Kerch bridge, a key connection from the Russian mainland to the Crimean Peninsula.

Putin called the bridge bombing a “terrorist” attack and vowed a “harsh” response.