Zelenskiy addresses US congress and meets with Biden; Russia launches largest missile attacks in a month
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, visited the US Capitol, Pentagon and the White House. Zelenskiy’s visit to Washington was a much tougher one than the hero’s welcome he was given nine months ago, as some hardline Republicans are threatening to block US President Joe Biden’s request for a fresh $24bn aid package for Ukraine.
In a closed door briefing, Zelenskiy told senators that military aid was crucial to Ukraine’s war effort, majority leader Chuck Schumer said after the briefing, which took place behind closed doors. “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,” Schumer quoted Zelenskiy as saying.
Biden assured Zelenskiy that strong US support for his war to repel Russian invaders would be maintained despite the Republican opposition. “Together with our partners and allies, the American people are determined to see to it to that [we do] all we can to ensure that the world stands with you,” Biden told him.
A new US military aid package for Ukraine worth $325m will include air defence systems and the second tranche of cluster munitions fired by a 155mm Howitzer cannon, Reuters reported, citing a US official.
Ukrainian cities from east to west were hit overnight in Russia’s largest wave of missile attacks in more than a month, as at least two were killed and dozens wounded on United Nations World Peace Day. The strikes came in the same week Zelenskiy presented a Ukrainian “peace formula” to the UN general assembly summit in New York.
The head of the European Investment Bank (EIB) has warned his soon-to-be-announced successor that bowing to pressure from some EU capitals to fund weapons for Ukraine would put the bank on the “wrong track”. Werner Hoyer will step down from the EU’s powerful lending arm at the end of December after 12 years turning the EIB into one of the world’s largest providers of climate finance. The EIB will be expected to play a key role in the rebuild effort in Ukraine.
A Russian attack on a town west of Donetsk near Ukraine’s eastern front has injured 13 people, including one pulled out from under rubble, an official from the area was quoted as saying early on Friday. There were two strikes on the town, sparking a fire, according to Roman Padun, administrative head of the town of Kurakhove, speaking to public broadcaster Suspilne. He gave no details on what weapons had been used.
Poland, one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies, has announced an end to its arms transfers to the country, a day after President Volodymyr Zelenskiy accused Warsaw of playing into Russia’s hands by banning Ukrainian grain imports. Poland is one of Kyiv’s main weapons suppliers and has been one of the loudest cheerleaders for the Ukrainian cause since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, but relations have soured over recent days amid the growing row over grain.
The UK’s Crown Prosecution Service authorised charges against five people suspected of spying for Russia. The three men and two women, aged between 29 and 45, are accused of “conspiring to collect information intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy”, the CPS said.
