The Biden administration will send an additional $1 billion in ammunition, weapons and vehicles to Ukraine, the Pentagon announced Monday.
The latest military aid package includes ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS, which Ukraine has used to destroy Russian ammunition depots and command posts tens of kilometers behind the front line in eastern Ukraine. Defense officials credited the weapon and strong Ukrainian resolve for slowing the Russian advance there. The set includes conventional artillery ammunition, armored ambulances and anti-tank weapons.
The package announced Monday is the largest single shipment of 18 sent since August 2021 under the authority of President Joe Biden, Pentagon spokesman Todd Breasseale said. The Biden administration has provided Ukraine with $9.8 billion in military aid. Since 2014, the United States has spent $11.8 billion on security assistance.
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Latest developments:
►The Ukrainian army said it destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in the Kharkiv region and shot down a cruise missile near Odessa on Monday.
►Russian combat losses include 42,340 soldiers killed or wounded, 1,811 tanks; 4,070 armored vehicles, according to Ukrainian army estimates. Neither fighter is posting accounts for their own losses.
Melitopol would be “reunified” with Russia by referendum
The Russian-appointed leader of Ukraine’s occupied Zaporozhye region on Monday signed an order to hold a referendum on “reunification” with Russia that could take place as early as next month. Evgeny Balitsky’s announcement came a day after the city’s mayor, Ivan Fedorov, claimed he used US-supplied HIMARS rockets to hit Russian forces in the area, killing more than 100 people.
“I sign an order to the Central Election Commission to start preparations for a referendum,” Evgeny Balitsky said at a public forum in the southeastern city of Melitopol. “We are together with Russia.”
A member of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporozhye region, Vladimir Rogov, claimed that the inhabitants of the Zaporozhye region and Russia are one people.
“The time has come to restore historical justice,” Rogov said. “We are confident that as part of Russia, the Zaporozhe region will be protected from encroachment.”
Moscow and Kyiv accuse each other of bombing a nuclear power plant
The “suicidal” bombing of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant must be halted and international inspectors allowed access to ensure its safe operation, UN Secretary-General António Guterres said on Monday. Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for a series of rocket attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant which, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency, created “the very real risk of a nuclear catastrophe”.
Ukraine’s military intelligence chief Andriy Yusov said his organization had received credible information from multiple sources that Russian forces planted explosives at the Zaporizhzhia plant to prevent an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive in the area. Ukrainian electricity company Energoatom quoted a Russian general as saying “the station will either be Russian or nobody’s”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky blamed Russia for the rocket attacks. The Russian Embassy in Washington issued a statement blaming Ukraine for the bombing, saying a “disinformation campaign” in US media falsely blamed Russian forces.
Embargo eased, Ukrainian grain shipment first to reach destination
A freighter carrying 12,000 tonnes of Ukrainian maize arrived in Turkey on Monday, the first ship to arrive at its destination under a deal that eased Russia’s strict blockade of Ukrainian ports.
The Polarnet, flying the Turkish flag, docked at the port of Derince in the Gulf of Izmit, three days after leaving Chornomorsk. The first ship to leave Ukraine, the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni, departed on August 1 but had not reached its destination in Lebanon and was anchored off the southern coast of Turkey, according to the website. Marine Traffic.
The ships are sailing as part of an agreement to unlock grain supplies and avert a possible global food crisis. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the arrival of the first ships “sends a message of hope to all families in the Middle East, Africa and Asia: Ukraine will not abandon you If Russia fulfills its obligations, the “grain corridor” will continue to maintain global food security.”
Another six ships carrying agricultural goods have been cleared to leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports, carrying more than 236,000 tons of grain. Ukraine has 20 million tonnes of grain stored in silos.
Dilapidated infrastructure could lead to a humanitarian crisis
The city of Sloviansk in eastern Ukraine has no running water due to constant shelling. Residents must therefore fill the bottles by hand at public pumps throughout the city. The remaining population of the city adapted to this new way of life. But local officials warn that the onset of winter could set the stage for a humanitarian crisis. Most of the eastern region of Donetsk is without gas for heating, and public wells and municipal water pipes are at risk of freezing in winter.
Lyubov Mahlii, 76, fetches five gallons of water twice a day from a public reservoir near his apartment, dragging the plastic bottles up four floors.
“When there are bombings and sirens, we keep wearing it,” she said. “It’s a big risk for us, but what can we do?”
Graham and Blumenthal urge Biden to declare Russia sponsor of terrorism
At least one prominent senator from each party is pushing the Biden administration to declare Russia a state sponsor of terrorism for its invasion of Ukraine, and they are jointly taking their case to the airwaves.
Democrat Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Republican Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, both with more than a decade in the Senate, told CNN on Sunday that if President Joe Biden did not support the nomination, they would work to get Congress pass a bill. issue one. Generally, these designations are made by the Department of State.
“I hope the president decides to take that position voluntarily, and he hasn’t taken it off the table,” Blumenthal said.
Graham, who served in the Senate with Biden, was more pointed in trying to get the president to put more pressure on Russia by adding it to the current US list of state sponsors of terrorism, which includes Iran, North Korea, Syria and Cuba. Listing would trigger four categories of sanctions.
“Whether or not we have to legislate for this to happen, we are prepared to do so,” Graham said. “I urge the administration to act now.”
Russia has issued a warning against the terrorist designation
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who called the idea of designating her country as a sponsor of terrorism “stupid” and “naive”, threatened to sever diplomatic relations between the countries if the United States made such a decision.
“Washington is finally at risk of crossing the point of no return – with all the consequences that entails,” she said last week. “That should be well understood in Washington.”
The State Department says four main categories of penalties result from a state-sponsored terrorist designation. They include restrictions on US foreign aid, a ban on defense exports and sales, tighter controls on exports of “dual-use” items for military and other uses, and various financial and other restrictions.
