Joe Biden spoke with Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday and announced a new military aid package ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day on Saturday.their offices said. In the US president’s phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Biden reiterated Washington’s support, which the White House described as “unwavering,” in Ukraine’s war with Russia. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on social media that the aid package was worth $125 million. It includes anti-aircraft missiles, anti-drone equipment, anti-tank missiles and ammunition, the White House said. Austin also spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerovm on Friday.
After the phone call, Zelensky said: “Ukraine urgently needs arms deliveries from the announced packages, especially additional air defense systems. to reliably protect cities, communities, and critical infrastructure,” said a statement from the Ukrainian president’s office. The latest announcement of U.S. assistance comes as Ukrainian troops press ahead with an assault on Russia’s western Kursk region, while Russian troops are making progress in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine around the city of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub.
Indian President Narendra Modi arrived in Kyiv on Friday for a closely watched visit.the first by an Indian prime minister since Ukraine’s independence in 1991. He told Zelenskiy He is “personally” ready to play a role “as a friend” in bringing peace to Ukraine. “The way to a solution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy,” Modi said. “And we should move in that direction without delay. Both sides should come together to find a way out of this crisis.” Zelensky said “history has been made” and that “India supports the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” An adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Modi’s visit to Kyiv was significant because Delhi “really has some influence” on Moscow.
The United States has imposed comprehensive sanctions on nearly 400 individuals and companies linked to Russia’s war in Ukraine.thereby expanding existing measures to contain Moscow’s approach to the invasion. Those affected by the measures, announced Friday by the U.S. Treasury and State and Commerce departments, include 60 Russia-based defense and technology companies that are “critical to maintaining and developing the Russian defense industry,” according to the Treasury Department. It also said the sanctions targeted individuals and companies inside and outside Russia “whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions.”
The Ukrainian military says it used high-precision US glide bombs to attack Russia’s Kursk region and it has recaptured some territory in eastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region. which has been under Russian offensive since spring. Ukrainian Air Force Commander Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshuk released a video purporting to show the attack on a Russian train base in Kursk. He said the attack, using US GBU-39 bombs, resulted in Russian casualties and destruction of equipment. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s 3rd Separate Assault Brigade said its troops had advanced nearly 2 square kilometers (about three-quarters of a square mile) in the Kharkiv region.
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said he believed Vladimir Putin would not risk a disaster at the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. amid growing international concern about its security. The former Swedish foreign minister told Agence France-Presse that Putin was “very rational” and “knew what he was doing.” Blix, 96, who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1981 to 1997, said he did not believe Russia would deliberately attack the Zaporizhia power plant. “I would be very surprised if the Russians had not instructed their military to avoid serious damage.”
The electricity supply to the Zaporizhia power plant has been resumed over a high-voltage power line, the Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom announced on Friday. The Russian nuclear company Rosatom had previously announced on the same day that automatic systems at Europe’s largest power plant – in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine – had shut down one of the lines.
One year since the death of Russian paramilitary leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was marked by Russians with flowers and remembrance. At a roadside in Moscow, just a few hundred meters from the Kremlin, crowds of his supporters gathered to lay bouquets of flowers on Friday. The late mercenary boss died two months after leading an armed uprising against Russia’s military leadership but is still revered by many who see him as a patriot, Agence France-Presse reported.
