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Air defence pledges after Russia's missile campaign
Summary
On 12 October 2022, Western governments announced air defence and military aid as strikes on infrastructure reached neighbouring Moldova's electricity supply.
What did Ukraine's partners offer in response to the missile strikes of early October? On 12 October 2022, the answer came mainly in the form of air defence, alongside artillery and winter equipment, as the effects of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure spread beyond Ukraine's borders.
Air defence at the centre
The pledges that day focused on countering missiles. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence announced that it would donate AMRAAM air-to-air missiles to Ukraine in the coming weeks, noting that they are capable of intercepting cruise missiles. It also said a further 18 howitzers would be donated to the Ukrainian military.
French President Emmanuel Macron said France would send radar and air defence systems to Ukraine in the coming weeks. Canada said it would provide C$47 million in new military aid, including artillery rounds, winter clothing, drone cameras and satellite communications.
The timing followed the strikes of 10 October 2022, when Russian forces hit Kyiv, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Zhytomyr, Zaporizhzhia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Sumy, Dnipro, Lviv, Ternopil and Poltava, killing at least nineteen people and injuring hundreds more. On 11 October, Lviv suffered a major power outage after a missile strike damaged what was described as critical infrastructure.
Energy effects cross the border
The consequences of those attacks were visible in Moldova on 12 October. Its government urged citizens to reduce electricity use after Ukraine suspended electricity exports because Russian missile attacks had damaged critical infrastructure.
Moldova was also involved in the strikes in another way. On 10 October, it confirmed that Russian Navy warships in the Black Sea had fired cruise missiles through its airspace to hit targets inside Ukraine, and its authorities summoned the Russian ambassador to explain the violation.
Diplomatic and legal signals
Also on 12 October, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution condemning Russia's attempted illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory. Only Belarus, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria voted against it.
Russia, for its part, said it had arrested eight people over the explosion on the Crimea Bridge: five Russians and three people from Ukraine and Armenia.
Fighting and warnings on the ground
The human cost continued in the east. Russian forces struck a marketplace in Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, killing at least seven civilians and injuring eight others.
The previous day, thousands of Russian troops were reported entering Belarus by the trainload. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned G7 nations that Russia was planning another offensive against Kyiv with direct Belarusian involvement. The movements came a day after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko accused Ukraine of planning an attack on his country. Also on 11 October, Russia added Meta Platforms, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, to its list of terrorists and extremists, citing tolerance of Russophobia and calls to violence against Russians.
What the day showed
Taken together, the announcements of 12 October 2022 pointed to a concentration of Western support on defending against missiles and cruise missiles, while the strikes on power infrastructure had already begun to affect a neighbouring state's electricity use. The UN vote, in which only five states sided with Russia, added a political dimension to the military pledges. The delivery of the promised systems was set for the coming weeks, so their effect lay beyond that date.
