Kyiv: A Ukrainian military statement said Russian forces tried to advance in eastern Ukraine and targeted Kherson in the south as Western allies sought to bolster Ukraine against Moscow.

In Washington, a $1.2 billion contract for six National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) for Ukraine was awarded to Raytheon, the Pentagon said.

Dmytro Kuleba, the foreign minister of Ukraine, stated on Wednesday that his nation needed Patriot missile defence systems produced in the United States to shield its civilian infrastructure from Russian attacks that have been intensifying since the beginning of the winter.

According to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, has directed "his ire and his fire" at the civilian population of Ukraine. Blinken also warned Russia that its strategy would fail to splinter Ukraine's supporters.

"These are President Putin's newest targets: heat, water, and electricity. He is striking them firmly. It is barbaric that the Ukrainian people are being brutalized. Following a two-day NATO meeting, Blinken stated at a news conference in Bucharest.

Allies promised to support Moldova, Georgia, and Bosnia-Herzegovina as they come under pressure from Russia at the NATO foreign ministers meeting on Wednesday, according to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and ministers.

The outcome, according to Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, showed NATO was "absolutely not interested in a political and diplomatic solution in Ukraine."

In what it calls a "special military operation," Russia invaded Ukraine nine months ago to purge it of nationalists it deemed dangerous. Russia is accused of an unwarranted, imperialist land grab by Ukraine and Western allies.

Ukraine ordered all of Kyiv's embassies abroad to strengthen security after two letter bombs were sent to the Ukrainian ambassador in Madrid and an arms company in Spain that manufactures rocket launchers donated to Ukraine. Spanish police said they were are examining a possible link between the two bombs, one of which injured an embassy security officer.

Russian forces try to make further advances and shelled several towns in eastern Ukraine said the Ukrainian military.

On the southern front, it said Russian forces took up defensive positions and trained tank, mortar and artillery fire on Ukrainian positions.

Another battleground activity was reported in northeastern and central Ukraine, the military said. President: "We are analysing the intentions of the occupiers and preparing counter-measures".

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine's presidential administration, said electricity had been restored to 65% of consumers in Kherson.

Nearly six million customers in a majority of Ukraine's regions and in Kyiv had no electricity, Zelenskiy said on Wednesday night.

Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yuriy Ignat said defence forces had shot down 340 of the roughly 400 Iranian drones that Russia had launched during the war.

"We haven't seen these Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles for about two weeks ... the first batch has probably already run out," he told Ukraine's main television network.

On the economic front, a deal was close on resuming Russian ammonia exports through a pipeline to a Ukrainian Black Sea port, U.N. aid chief Martin Griffiths said.

"I think we're quite close, we're edging towards it this week," Griffiths told a Reuters NEXT event.

A deal aimed at easing global food shortages by helping Ukraine export its agricultural products from Black Sea ports was extended on Nov. 17 for four months, though Russia said its own demands were yet to be fully addressed. The agreement was initially brokered in July by the United Nations with the help of Turkey.