Defence minister: EU military training to be organised also in Poland

More than 50 Western countries met on Wednesday to promise more weapons for Ukraine, especially air defences after Russia launched its most intense missile strikes since the war began.

During a break in a meeting of NATO defense ministers in the Ukraine Defense Contact Group format held in Brussels, Poland's Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said The EU military training mission for Ukrainian forces would be organised also in Poland. "An important operational command will be established in Poland very soon," he said.

Błaszczak added that Poland's assessment of Putin's attempt to recreate the Russian Empire was acknowledged by NATO allies, "first and foremost by the United States".

"There's no doubt that if it weren't for the United States' approach, allies such as Germany or France would approach the question of these dangers quite differently," he argued.

Minister Błaszczak also said Poland's role had been also acknowledged by U.S. General Christopher Cavoli, who had accentuated the country's involvement and importantce in the process of supporting Ukraine.

At the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Russia's latest attacks had laid bare its "malice and cruelty" since invading Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Ukraine had shifted momentum since September with extraordinary gains, but would need more help, he said.

"These victories belong to Ukraine's brave soldiers. But the Contact Group's security assistance, training, and sustainment efforts have been vital," Austin said.

Russian attacks using more than 100 missiles have killed at least 26 people across Ukraine since Monday, when President Vladimir Putin ordered what he called retaliatory strikes against Ukraine for an explosion on a bridge.

Air raid sirens sounded across swathes of Ukraine for a third day on Wednesday and there were reports of some shelling, but no sign of a repeat of the intensive countrywide strikes of the previous two days.

The missiles have mostly targeted civilian electricity and heating infrastructure, while some hit busy roads, parks and tourist sites, including in the centre of Kyiv.

Transatlantic alliance NATO's secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, said Russia's missile attacks were a sign of weakness. "Russia is actually losing on the battlefield," Stoltenberg said.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace told the Evening Standard people had underestimated Ukraine and overestimated Russia. "But he (Putin) has got in his back pocket millions of people he can shove into a meat grinder with no rules, no regard for human lives and innocent people and civilians," he added.

Since Monday's attacks, Germany has sent the first of four planned IRIS-T SLM air defence systems, while Washington said it would speed up delivery of a promised NASAMS air defence system.

The Czech Republic said it would turn away Russians holding Schengen-zone visas from Oct. 25, as it joined other European Union members in tightening entry rules.

"While Russian rockets fall on a children's playground and on people in Ukraine, up to 200 Russian Federation citizens travel to the Czech Republic via international airports every day," Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said.