The White House announced an emergency $400 million military aid package for Ukraine Friday by the Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to transfer munitions and services from the Pentagon’s U.S. stockpile without congressional approval.
This is the third tranche of emergency military aid for Ukraine since the U.S. Congress passed an aid bill allocating $60.8 billion for Ukraine.
The weapons aid comes as Ukrainian forces struggle to halt Russia as it advances into Ukrainian territory, threatening to open a new war front at Ukraine’s northeast border, a U.S. official told Reuters Friday.
The Ukraine aid package includes artillery, munitions for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems air defenses, anti-tank munitions, armored vehicles and small arms that can immediately be used on the battlefield, according to the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Fierce fighting in eastern Ukraine
Fighting is raging between Russian and Ukraine forces near Ukraine’s northeastern border city of Kharkiv, where Russia launched a new attack early Friday, making incursions into Ukrainian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.
Russian troops supported by armored units have pushed into Ukraine in that region by 1 kilometer, trying to “create a buffer zone” that would prevent Ukrainian attacks into Russia’s border regions, according to a high-ranking Ukrainian military source who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the subject.
“Russia launched a new wave of counteroffensive actions in this area. Ukraine met them there with our troops, brigades and artillery. … Now, there is a fierce battle underway in this area,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday during a news briefing in Kyiv.
Zelenskyy has warned that Russia could be preparing for a large-scale counteroffensive within the next few months. He told reporters that Kyiv’s forces were prepared to meet Friday’s Russian assault, but that Moscow could send more troops to the area to overwhelm Ukraine’s overstretched and outnumbered troops.
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said it had deployed reserve units to fend off the attack. “As of now, these attacks have been repulsed; battles of varying intensity continue,” the ministry reported.
At least two civilians were killed and five more were injured during the heavy Russian shelling of the border settlements, said Oleh Syniehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region.
Russia is pummeling the frontier town of Vovchansk with guided aerial bombs and artillery. Local authorities are helping with civilian evacuations, Tamaz Gambarashvili, head of the Vovchansk military administration, told Hromadske radio.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
More than two years after its invasion, Russia has the upper hand in the battlefield, piercing into Ukrainian territories and opening a new front as Ukraine faces shortages of troops, artillery shells and air defenses.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in March he was considering creating a “sanitary zone” in Ukrainian territory adjoining Belgorod, a Russian region often hit by Ukrainian shelling.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian long-range drone struck at an oil refinery Friday near the Russian city of Kaluga, southwest of Moscow. The strike set four oil storage tanks on fire, according to Vladislav Shapsha, the regional governor. He said there were no casualties.
Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russian refineries, hoping to cripple the country’s military abilities and also hit Russia in its pocketbook: Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil producers, providing key revenue and fuel.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it downed seven Ukrainian drones early Friday in the Moscow, Bryansk and Belgorod regions.
Zelenskyy assassination plot
On Thursday, Zelenskyy replaced Colonel Serhii Lupanchuk as the commander of the Special Operations Forces — the second time in six months the leader of the unit that operates in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied territories has been changed. Brigadier General Oleksandr Trepak is the new SOF commander.
Zelenskyy has made several high-level military changes in recent months. The new appointments follow on the heels of claims that Ukrainian counterintelligence investigators thwarted a plan by Russian agents to assassinate Zelenskyy.
Ukraine’s state security service said two colonels in the State Guard of Ukraine, which protects top officials, were arrested on suspicion of treason for enacting the plan. A state security service statement said the plot was drawn up by Russia’s Federal Security Service.
Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, The Associated Press and Agence France-Presse.
Source: voanews.com
