BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany will approve another 50 million euros ($52.68 million) in winter aid for Ukraine in response to Russian attacks on energy infrastructure there, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a donors’ conference in Paris on Tuesday.
This comes on top of 160 million euros already pledged by Berlin at a conference in Bucharest earlier in the year.
Baerbock said Germany was working to deliver generators, blankets and heating fuel to Ukraine over Christmas, as Russia’s pummelling of power facilities causes power shortages in many parts of the country.
The Russian president wants to break the people of Ukraine “and we will not allow this,” the German minister told reporters.
Russia, which invaded Ukraine in February, has increased attacks on energy facilities in recent weeks, saying strikes on vital infrastructure are militarily legitimate. Ukraine says attacks intended to cause civilian misery are a war crime.
($1 = 0.9491 euros)
(Reporting by Alexander Ratz, Writing by Rachel More; Editing by Paul Carrel)