Ukraine received promises of long-term Western weapons, including new US aid worth $2.2 billion. In return, Moscow vowed a quick and harsh response if Crimea and the depths of Russian territory were bombed.
On the ground, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmyhal acknowledged - today, Saturday - that a "serious accident" had occurred that caused a power outage in the coastal city of Odessa (south), while Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Russian region of Belgorod bordering Ukraine, announced that Ukrainian forces had bombed an industrial facility in the city of Borisovka.
US Department of Defense spokesman Pat Ryder said that the new aid includes Javelin anti-tank missiles, in addition to GLSDB small bombs that are installed on US HIMARS missiles, with a range of 150 km.
A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that the delivery of these bombs would not happen before several months due to production dates.
He declined to specify the number of these bombs for "security reasons".
Concurrently, Paris announced that it and Italy would supply Kyiv with a medium-range "Mamba" surface-to-air defense system in the spring to help it defend itself against attacks by Russian drones, missiles and aircraft.
For his part, Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Saturday that his country is ready to send heavy Leopard-2 tanks to Ukraine, but it must first work with Germany to rehabilitate some of these armored vehicles.
In London, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said today that he is focused on ensuring that Britain's defensive military equipment reaches the front lines as quickly as possible.
Sunak stressed - during a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky - that it is necessary for international partners to expedite their assistance to Kiev to seize the opportunity in order to force the Russian forces to retreat.
Russian threats
The Russian response to the news of military support was not long in coming, as Dmitry Medvedev, Vice President of the Russian Security Council, vowed that his country's response would be swift and harsh if Crimea and the depths of Russian territory were bombed.
Medvedev said - in press statements today - that Russia is "ready to use all types of weapons, including nuclear weapons, according to the type and level of threats to which it is exposed."
The former Russian president added, "In the event of Ukrainian strikes on Crimea, there will be no negotiations, there will be only retaliatory strikes ... All of Ukraine remaining under Kyiv's rule will burn."
This is not the first time that Medvedev personally and Russian leaders have hinted at the option of using nuclear weapons in accordance with Moscow's nuclear doctrine, which allows its use in the event that the country's national security is endangered.
Commenting on Medvedev's threats, the Ukrainian presidential advisor said that international law allows his country to liberate its lands using any tool.
He stressed that Crimea is Ukrainian territory and that the threats of retaliatory strikes by Russian officials are nothing but an affirmation of the intention to commit mass murders and an attempt to intimidate in the traditional Russian style, as he put it.
Odessa accident
In a related context, the Ukrainian government asked its foreign minister to communicate with the Turkish side to secure a ship carrying a power station, after a fire broke out at the main power station in Odessa, caused by Russian bombing of the infrastructure, according to the regional administration of the province.
The fire led to a power outage throughout the southern province, prompting the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy to send all available generators to the province, and to bring a mobile gas turbine power station to the city.
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said a serious accident at a high-voltage substation caused widespread power outages in and around the southern port city of Odessa.
"The situation is difficult, the scale of the accident is large, and it is impossible to quickly restore energy supplies, especially in critical infrastructure," Shmihal wrote on Telegram.
Bombing of Belgorod, Russia
Within Russian territory, Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region bordering Ukraine, announced that Ukrainian forces had bombed an industrial facility in Borisovka.
Gladkov said that the firefighting forces were able to control the fire without causing any injuries, thanks to the timely evacuation of the facility.
He added that from today the region will enter the yellow level of the terrorist threat for an indefinite period, stressing that the effects of this measure will be lifted when the security situation in Belgorod improves.
"We will not abandon Bakhmut"
In the context, the Ukrainian president said yesterday that they will not give up the besieged city of Bakhmut, in the east of the country.
Zelensky stressed that the Ukrainian army "will defend as much as it can" for the important Bakhmut, which the Russian army has been seeking to seize for months, stressing that "no one will give up this fortress."
For months, the Russian forces have been trying to extract the strategic Bakhmut from the Ukrainian forces, with the support of the militants of the Russian security "Wagner" group, and there was news a few days ago that the attacking forces succeeded in completely surrounding the city.
Russian attack
And while the battles continue on the eastern front, the Ukrainian army said today that Russia is planning a massive offensive in Zaporizhia County by the first anniversary of the war that began on February 24, 2022.
The Ukrainian military administration in Zaporizhia accused the Russian forces of carrying out more than 150 attacks on 26 areas along the contact lines.
The Ukrainian General Staff said today that during the past hours, Russian forces launched 20 raids and more than 90 missile strikes on several provinces, especially in Kherson, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv (south) and Kharkiv (northeast), which caused deaths and injuries among civilians.
She added that several areas in Kherson and Zaporizhia were subjected to intense bombardment over the past night, while water services were stopped in large areas in Mykolaiv due to the damage to civilian infrastructure as a result of the Russian bombing.
The Al-Jazeera correspondent also reported - quoting the Ukrainian army - that its forces continued their air raids on the locations of the Russian forces and their missile systems, especially Kherson and Zaporizhia, in addition to destroying stores and ammunition depots.
Prisoner exchange
On the other hand, Kyiv and Moscow announced today a new prisoner exchange, the second this year.
The Ukrainian army said that a major exchange deal had been completed under which Moscow released 116 soldiers, in addition to the bodies of dead foreign volunteers.
Andriy Yermak, director of the Ukrainian President's Office, said that a number of released Ukrainian prisoners were fighting in Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, in the east of the country.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the return of 63 of its captured soldiers, and said that they are currently on the country's territory.
The Russian ministry added that some of the released soldiers belong to the "sensitive category," as it described it.