November 2022 — MHCE Newsletter
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8 | <strong>MHCE</strong> - News www.mhce.us NOVEMBER <strong>2022</strong> EDITION<br />
US, allies pledge more air defense weapons for<br />
Ukraine after Russia launches largest missile<br />
assault of war<br />
Russia’s barrage of dozens of missiles into Ukrainian<br />
territory Tuesday marked its largest air assault on<br />
Ukraine since launching its unprovoked invasion<br />
of the country in February, the top U.S. general said<br />
Wednesday.<br />
Army Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint<br />
Chiefs of Staff, said Russia’s bombardment of civilian<br />
targets across Ukraine, including strikes on dozens of<br />
critical power infrastructure facilities, was illegal and<br />
unnecessary. He estimated 60 to 100 Russian missiles<br />
<strong>—</strong> mostly air- and sea-launched cruise missiles <strong>—</strong> were<br />
fired during the assault, which U.S. and NATO officials<br />
have blamed for leading to a deadly blast in Polish<br />
territory that killed two civilians.<br />
“They [the Russians] are striking the Ukrainian civilian<br />
infrastructure, and it has little or no military purpose,”<br />
Milley told reporters at the Pentagon. “The deliberate<br />
targeting of the civilian power grid, causing excessive<br />
collateral damage and unnecessary suffering on the<br />
civilian population is a war crime.”<br />
Milley estimated more than 25% of Ukraine’s civilian<br />
population was without power after Russia’s latest<br />
attacks. He said the assault was especially cruel as<br />
temperatures drop in Ukraine with winter's approach.<br />
Milley and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met<br />
Wednesday with defense leaders from 50 partner nations<br />
and Ukraine in their seventh monthly Ukraine Defense<br />
Contact Group session to discuss the latest battlefield<br />
needs of Ukrainian forces. Several nations <strong>—</strong> including<br />
the United States, Spain, Sweden, Germany and Poland<br />
<strong>—</strong> pledged new air defense capabilities for Ukraine,<br />
which defense officials have labeled the most critical<br />
need now.<br />
That need grew starker Tuesday when an explosion in<br />
Poland near its border with Ukraine killed two civilians.<br />
Top Polish and NATO officials said Wednesday that a