US announced $2 billion in aid to 19 countries ‘at risk of future Russian aggression’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unscheduled visit to Kyiv on Thursday as the US announced massive new US military aid worth more than $2 billion to Ukraine and other European countries who feel betrayed by Russia. threaten.
In meetings with senior Ukrainian officials, Blinken said Joe Biden’s administration would provide $2 billion in long-term foreign military financing to Ukraine and 18 neighboring countries, including NATO members. and regional security partners “most at risk for future Russian aggression.”
Pending the approval of the US Congress is expected, about 1 billion USD of which will go to Ukraine and the rest will be divided among Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Montenegro, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia.
This support once again demonstrates our unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s future as a democratic, sovereign and independent country, as well as to the security of its member states. allies and partners in the region”.
Recorder24:58Inside Ukraine – a country living with war
The amount is separate from a $675 million package of heavy weapons, ammunition and armored vehicles for Ukraine alone that Defense Minister Lloyd Austin announced earlier Thursday at a conference in Ramstein, Germany. That package includes artillery, artillery shells, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems and more.
The donations bring total US aid to Ukraine to $15.2 billion since President Joe Biden took office.
. @SecDef : We formed this Contact Group as the free world was racing to meet Ukraine’s most pressing demands. But today, this Liaison Group needs to locate itself to sustain Ukraine’s brave defenders over the long haul. pic.twitter.com/RN2OdaGrmR
& mdash;@DeptofDefense
Austin said that “the war is at another pivotal moment,” with Ukrainian forces starting to counterattack in the south of the country. “We are now seeing the proven success of our joint efforts on the battlefield,” he said.
“The face of the war is changing and so is the mission of this contact group,” Austin said at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the defense minister. Ukraine as well as officials from allied countries. .
Ukraine benefits, reports evacuation in Kharkiv
The announcements come amid growing fighting between Ukraine and Russia in recent days, with Ukrainian forces launching a counter-offensive aimed at retaking Russian-held areas to the south and east.
According to a report published Wednesday by the Washington, DC-based Institute for the Study of War, Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv are “likely to take advantage of Russia’s reallocation of forces” to nearby areas. the city of Kherson was occupied in the south “to conduct an opportunistic but highly effective counterattack” in the province.
Ukrainian forces may have used “surprise tactics” to advance at least 20 kilometers into Russian-held territory in the Kharkiv region on Wednesday, recapturing around 400 square kilometers of ground, the report said.
Vitaly Ginchev, mayor of the Moscow-backed town of Kupiansk in the Russian-occupied Kharkiv region, on Thursday said authorities had begun evacuating women and children from the town and surrounding areas due to under constant shelling by Ukraine.
In his nightly speech on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also reported success in the Kharkiv region but did not provide details on its scope.
“This week we have good news from the Kharkiv region. You may have seen the reports about the activities of the Ukrainian defenders and I think every citizen feels proud of our fighters.” , Zelenskyy said.
Concerns about nuclear plants remain high
Meanwhile, tensions continue to simmer around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, where Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of threatening a nuclear disaster by shelling near the facility.
Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of Dnipropetrovsk, said the towns of Nikopol and Marhanets, opposite the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant across the Dnieper River. province area.
“The nuclear threat has not lessened because of Russia’s foolish actions and we need to consider all possible scenarios, including the worst-case scenario,” Reznichenko said in a televised speech. “.
The head of the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has warned that “something very, very catastrophic could happen” at the Zaporizhzhia plant and called on Russia and Ukraine to set up establish a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around it.
It is feared that the fighting could trigger a disaster on the scale of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine in 1986.
Ukraine admits missile attack in Crimea
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged people in Russian-occupied areas near the power plant to evacuate, adding that Ukrainian authorities had urged the Russians to set up humanitarian corridors to evacuate residents. local, but no response.
Ukraine’s Enerhoatom, which oversees the country’s nuclear plants, said workers at the Zaporizhzhia plant were continuing repairs on Thursday to restore at least one of the seven power lines to the country. factory. pump of the cooling system.
Enerhoatom Director Petro Kotin said that the IAEA’s proposals to improve safety at the plant can only be implemented if the Russian military leaves and is replaced by a peacekeeping team.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief, General Valerii Zaluzhnyy, acknowledged in an article published Wednesday that explosions and fires at air bases in the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia last month were due to “a series of successful missile attacks on Crimean airbases”. “
It marked the first official acknowledgment of responsibility by the Ukrainian authorities. Zaluzhnyy did not give details of the attacks.