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Vows to help Kyiv with energy grid after Russian strikes
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U.S. pledges $53 mln for Ukrainian power grid equipment
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Capacity constraints may affect weapons supply in future
(Adds comments by Stoltenberg, Ukrainian foreign minister Kuleba)
By Sabine Siebold, John Irish and Humeyra Pamuk
BUCHAREST, Nov 29 (Reuters) - NATO allies said on Tuesday they would help Ukraine repair energy infrastructure heavily damaged by Russian bombardments in what NATO's chief said was Moscow using the descending winter cold as "a weapon of war".
Russia has been carrying out heavy missile attacks on Ukraine's power grid and heating infrastructure roughly weekly since October, in what Kyiv and its allies say is a deliberate campaign to harm civilians, a war crime. Russia acknowledges attacking Ukrainian infrastructure but denies deliberately seeking to harm civilians.
"Russia is using brutal missile and drone attacks to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter," NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said as the alliance's foreign ministers wrapped up the first of two days of talks in Romania's capital Bucharest.
"President (Vladimir) Putin is trying to use winter as a weapon of war to force Ukrainians to freeze or flee. He is trying to break the will of the brave Ukrainian people and to divide all of us who support them," he added.
Stoltenberg was echoed by British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who accused Putin of targeting civilian and energy infrastructure "to try and freeze the Ukrainians into submission".
NATO foreign ministers pledged to step up political and practical support to Ukraine and maintain it for as long as necessary.
"Russia's aggression, including its persistent and unconscionable attacks on Ukrainian civilian and energy infrastructure, is depriving millions of Ukrainians of basic human services," they said in a statement.
'PATRIOTS AND TRANSFORMERS'
Ukraine urged its Western partners to supply it with air defence systems and transformers to blunt Russian strikes.
"If we have transformers and generators, we can restore our energy needs. If we have air defence systems, we can protect from the next Russian missile strikes," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said. "In a nutshell: Patriots and transformers are what Ukraine needs the most."
Stoltenberg said allies were discussing providing Patriot air defence units but cautioned that the systems delivered needed to be effective, maintained and provided with sufficient ammunition, which was a "huge challenge" in itself.