NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg is visiting Kyiv for the first time since the start of Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, an alliance official said on April 20, as Russia rained more drones on Ukrainian civilians amid heavy fighting in the east.
“The NATO secretary-general is in Ukraine. We will release more information as soon as possible,” the official, who asked not to be identified, told the media.
During his unannounced visit, Stoltenberg paid his respects at a memorial for fallen soldiers in downtown Kyiv and talked to Ukrainian officials, images published by Ukrainian media outlets showed.
Stoltenberg's visit came hours after Russia used Iranian-made drones for a second day in a row to attack civilian and infrastructure targets, the Ukrainian military said on April 20.
The southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region was targeted by six drones, Serhiy Lysak, the head of the regional military administration, said on Telegram.
"This night, troops from the Eastern Air Command and antiaircraft defense forces downed six attack drones, most likely, [Iranian-made] Shaheds," Lysak wrote on Telegram.
There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Separately, the Ukrainian Air Force Command reported that its air defenses had shot down about 10 Iranian-made Russian drones in southeastern Ukraine.
The drone attack was the second in as many days, after swarms of Shaheds were reportedly shot down the previous day by Ukrainian air defenses above the southern port city of Odesa.
Separately, Russian surface-to-air missiles hit civilian targets in Ochkiv, a small town in the southern Mykolayiv region, the head of regional military administration, Vitaliy Kim, said on April 20, adding that there were no immediate reports of casualties.
In Donetsk, one civilian was killed as a result of Russian shelling, the region's military governor, Pavlo Kyrilenko said on April 20.
In the east, Moscow's troops continued to press an offensive in the Donetsk region with renewed momentum to try and break a monthslong stalemate in the battle for the city of Bakhmut.
Ukrainian defenders, meanwhile, repelled more than 55 Russian assaults in Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka -- the theater of operations where the fiercest battles for the Donetsk region have been under way for months.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said in its daily update that Russian troops have been unsuccessfully trying to improve their tactical positions using a combination of shelling and air strikes.
The battlefield reports could not be independently verified.
In a morale-boosting move, Ukraine on April 19 confirmed reception of its first Patriot air-defense systems, while the United States announced a package of military aid worth $325 million.
"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian skies have become more secure because Patriot air-defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov wrote on Twitter.
The mobile surface-to-air Patriot system is one of the most advanced in the world and can be used against aircraft, ballistic missiles, and cruise missiles.
The United States and Germany pledged Patriot systems to Ukraine following waves of Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure that began in October.
The $325 million in additional U.S. military aid includes an enormous amount of artillery rounds and ammunition. The package will send rockets for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) that the Pentagon says Ukraine has used effectively, as well as an array of other missiles, small-arms ammunition, and anti-tank ammunition.
The supplies will be pulled from Pentagon inventories, meaning they can go quickly to the front line as Ukraine prepares to launch a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
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