U.S. sends first shipment of power gear to aid Ukraine - Reuters

WASHINGTON, Dec 12 (Reuters) - The United States has shipped the archetypal portion of its powerfulness instrumentality assistance to Ukraine, U.S. officials said connected Monday, arsenic Washington works to enactment the country's vigor infrastructure against intensifying attacks from Russia.

The archetypal tranche was powerfulness instrumentality worthy astir $13 million, 1 of the officials said. Another root acquainted with the substance said 2 much planeloads of instrumentality would permission from the United States this week.

Russia has been carrying retired wide attacks connected Ukraine's energy transmission and heating infrastructure since October, successful what Kyiv and its allies accidental is simply a deliberate run to harm civilians.

The United States and Western allies person provided Ukraine with backing and instrumentality to boost Kyiv's vigor resilience. Russia's caller attacks person near millions of radical successful the acheronian and without heating amid sub-zero temperatures.

Russia is "deliberately trying to frost Ukrainians to decease arsenic we participate winter", a elder U.S. authoritative said. "Our strategy close present archetypal is to assistance Ukraine support itself against this deliberate attacks connected civilian vigor infrastructure due to the fact that it could beryllium a humanitarian catastrophe."

Another U.S. authoritative said the instrumentality departed from a U.S. subject base. The archetypal tranche is portion of the $53 cardinal assistance announced past month, aft Ukraine said it needed transformers and generators arsenic good arsenic aerial defence systems.

Deputy U.S. Energy Secretary David Turk met with officials from lipid and state companies past Thursday to research ways to enactment Ukraine's vigor resilience.

Blackouts person go predominant and the authorities has urged the nationalist to conserve vigor by reducing usage of home appliances.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken precocious past period accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to disagreement the Western conjugation and unit it to wantonness Ukraine by freezing and starving Ukrainians and driving up vigor costs globally. He added the strategy would not work.

Russia calls the penetration of Ukraine a "special operation".

Reporting by Timothy Gardner and Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Jonathan Landay; Editing by Clarence Fernandez

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