Russia continues to devastate Ukraine by destroying that country’s energy infrastructure and cutting the population off from heat and light, President Joe Biden said on Wednesday.
“Russia is using winter as a weapon. Freezing people, starving people, cutting them off from one another,” Biden said during a news briefing with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
“It is a purposely attacking Ukraine’s critical infrastructure. Destroying the system to provide heat and light to the Ukrainian people during the coldest, darkest part of the year.”
Biden described the attacks on energy infrastructure as “the latest example of the outrageous atrocities” Russia has committed against Ukraine’s civilian population.
Biden announced that $2.2 billion in infrastructure support was being sent to Ukraine as part of a new aid package. The United States and allies were also working to help Ukraine make repairs to its power system.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is now in its 10th month, devastating the country’s infrastructure and resulting in millions of evacuees. Ukraine resisted the initial invasion and has been subjected to Russian air strikes and brutal fighting in the country’s east.
Power has been knocked out across the country. Last week in Kyiv, authorities said that more than half of residents were without electricity or water.
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