From the BBC:
“Ukraine war: US approves
$2.6bn in aid for Ukraine and allies”
(Ukrainian servicemen operate
with US-made 155mm M777 towed howitzer at their positions in the Kharkiv area,
Ukraine, 28 July 2022)
The US has approved nearly $2.7bn
(£2.3bn) in new aid for Ukraine and allies, including $675m in weapons for
Ukraine as it battles Russia. Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the arms
package at a meeting with dozens of fellow ministers at the US air base in
Ramstein, Germany. The aid includes howitzers, munitions, Humvee vehicles,
armoured ambulances and anti-tank systems. The US has already pledged at least
$13bn in military aid for Ukraine. The Biden administration said on Thursday it
had earmarked $2bn in long-term assistance in the form of investments to
bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbours, including both Nato
members and non-members at risk of future Russian aggression. It said it would
notify Congress of the aid plan.
US Secretary of State Anthony
Blinken arrived in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, as his colleague urged Ukraine's
allies to commit to supporting the country for as long as necessary and be
prepared to adapt the type of support offered. "It means moving urgently
to innovate and to push all of our defence industrial basis to provide Ukraine
with the tools that it will need," Mr Austin said. Describing Russia's
invasion as an "illegal, imperial and indefensible war of conquest",
he said: "Now we're seeing the demonstrable success of our common efforts
on the battlefield."
On Wednesday, Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelensky said his country's military had recently carried out
successful attacks against Russian forces which control large areas of Ukraine
in the south and the east - and retaken settlements near the north-eastern city
of Kharkiv. He did not give details but both Ukrainian and pro-Russian
officials report fighting around Balakleya, 60km (38 miles) south-east of
Kharkiv. UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace says there are signs Ukraine is
making real military progress. Western-supplied long-range artillery and
rockets are helping to target Russian supply lines and command centres. Russian
President Vladimir Putin denied reverses on Wednesday, saying: "We have
not lost anything and will not lose anything." Russia says it is fighting
neo-Nazis in Ukraine - a claim widely dismissed - and that it is threatened by
the Nato alliance's strong relations with Ukraine.
Since the invasion on 24
February, the UN has recorded at least 5,718 civilian deaths, with 8,199
injured, and more than seven million Ukrainians have been recorded as refugees
across Europe. An unknown number of combatants have been killed or injured. Russia,
a global energy supplier, is locked in an economic struggle with the West which
imposed sweeping sanctions in response to the invasion.
^ Ukraine needs and deserves all
the help the US and the whole world can give it to defeat Russia. ^
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