INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warned Tuesday that Russia was using winter as a "weapon of war" against Ukraine, as Western allies meeting in
Bucharest planned to help Kyiv mend its ravaged power grid.United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to announce "substantial"
financial aid to help Ukraine deal with damaged infrastructure on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO's foreign ministers.A senior United
States official said the assistance would "not be the end" and pointed out the Biden administration had budgeted $1.1 billion for energy
spending in Ukraine and neighboring Moldova.A Russian campaign of missile strikes has severely damaged Ukraine's energy infrastructure and
plunged millions into darkness as the country braces against the first snows and chill winds of winter.Stoltenberg said "the message from
all of us will be that we need to do more" to help Kyiv fix its gas and electricity infrastructure and provide air defense to help it
protect itself better.He said he expected Russia to carry out more attacks on Ukraine's grid as the Kremlin suffers defeats on the ground
and warned Europe should "be prepared for more refugees.""Russia is actually failing on the battlefield
In response to that they are now attacking civilian targets, cities because they're not able to win territory," Stoltenberg said at the
for Kyiv and assistance in coping with Moscow's attacks.'Keep calm, give tanks'"This targeting of civilian infrastructure, of energy
don't think it'll be successful."Allies have given arms worth billions of dollars to Ukraine, but Kyiv is pleading for more air defense,
tanks and longer-range missiles to push the Kremlin's forces back.But there are growing concerns that weapon stores in some NATO countries
NATO ministers was simple: "Keep calm and give tanks."Germany, which currently chairs the G7, has convened a meeting Tuesday afternoon on
the sidelines of the NATO gathering to discuss the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine.The United States will call on the other
member countries to strengthen their aid in this area, according to the United States official.'Door is open'NATO says the meeting in
alliance will not, however, make any progress on Ukraine's request to join, first made some 14 years ago when NATO first pledged that Kyiv
would one day become a member.Stoltenberg insisted that the "door is open" to new members but said the focus now was on assisting Ukraine in
like Romania and neighboring Ukraine.Romania has been hard hit by the war and around 2 million people fleeing Ukraine have passed through
the country.Non-NATO Moldova, which has also seen blackouts caused by the fallout from the attacks on neighboring Ukraine, will attend the
accession of NATO candidates Finland and Sweden, already ratified by 28 of the 30 member countries but which remains suspended awaiting the
green light from Hungary and Turkey.The Finnish, Swedish and Turkish foreign ministers were meeting on the sidelines of the meeting, but
