According to the Chair of the NATO military committee, Adm Rob Bauer, the ongoing war in Ukraine could “determine the fate of the world” and as such, western armies and political leaders must drastically change the way they aid Kyiv to fight off Russian forces.

He reemphasized NATO’s support for the warring country, saying that NATO would continue to support Ukraine long-term.

“Today is the 693rd day of what Russia thought would be a three-day war. Ukraine will have our support for every day that is to come because the outcome of this war will determine the fate of the world.”
Adm Rob Bauer

Bauer urged the allies to plan for the unexpected.

“We need public and private actors to change their mindset for an era in which everything was plannable, foreseeable, controllable and focused on efficiency to an era in which anything can happen at any time. An era in which we need to expect the unexpected,” Bauer said.

“In order to be fully effective, also in the future, we need a warfighting transformation of NATO,” he added.

Bauer also said that behind Putin’s rationale for the war is a fear of democracy, saying that the war has never been about any real security threat to Russia coming from either Ukraine or NATO.”

“This war is about Russia fearing something much more powerful than any physical weapon on earth —democracy. If people in Ukraine can have democratic rights, then people in Russia will soon crave them too.”
Adm Rob Bauer

Bauer’s comments came as officials announced on Wednesday that Russia fired two missiles at Kharkiv in north-eastern Ukraine during the night, hitting apartment buildings and a medical centre, and injuring 17 people.

The attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, struck 20 residential buildings and a medical center, authorities said, stating that the missile attacks came from the Russian border region of Belgorod.

Officials stated that deeper inside the Kharkiv region, areas close to the frontline came under artillery fire.

Ukraine’s air force said it intercepted 19 out of 20 Shahed-type drones fired by Russia overnight, though regional officials reported that other drones made it through air defenses.

In the southern city of Odesa, three people were injured in a drone attack that forced the evacuation of about 130 people from an apartment building, regional governor Oleh Kiper said.

In Kherson, another southern city, artillery fire injured three people and damaged residential districts overnight, according to its Regional Governor, Oleksand Prokudin.

Meanwhile, the Russian defence ministry said that two winged Ukrainian drones and four missiles were shot down over the Belgorod region overnight and another around noon local time on Wednesday.

It provided no details about damage or injuries.

EBRD’s Chief Economist Calls For Financial Aid For Ukraine

Beata Javorcik , the Chief Economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said that Ukraine needs financial support as well as military support in order to prevent the government in Kyiv resorting to printing money to keep the economy afloat.

Speaking in an interview, Beata Javorcik said that Ukraine’s economic situation was challenging, despite growth of just short of 5% last year.

“The big risk is that if money doesn’t come in from abroad things could spiral and the government might have to resort to the printing press. The government has done a very good job in ensuring macro-economic stability but we don’t want to have a failed state on our hands.
“We need to support Ukraine not only militarily but through budget support.”
Beata Javorcik

Also, Javorcik disclosed that the EBRD was planning to invest between €7.5bn and €15bn over the next five years in Ukraine, with the focus on supporting the private sector.

She said that there was a “substantial risk”, given the likelihood of the war continuing, of the economy being derailed.