US President Joe Biden spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Washington:
US President Joe Biden spoke with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday and announced a new round of military aid to Kiev, valued by the Pentagon at $125 million.
The call between the two leaders came ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, and on the same day Washington announced sweeping sanctions against hundreds of individuals and companies linked to Russia’s invasion of the country.
“I am proud that today we will announce a new military assistance package to Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement.
“The package includes air defense missiles to protect Ukraine’s critical infrastructure; counter-drone equipment and anti-armor missiles to defend against Russia’s evolving tactics on the battlefield; and ammunition for frontline soldiers and the mobile missile systems that protect them,” he said.
“Russia will not prevail in this conflict. The independent people of Ukraine will prevail – and the United States, our allies and our partners will continue to support them every step of the way,” Biden added.
The US Defense Department later said the package is worth $125 million and consists of items sourced from US equities, giving Kiev “additional capabilities to meet its most pressing needs.”
Zelensky praised the announcement of military aid and said there is an especially urgent need for air defense.
“I welcomed the new US military aid package and stressed that Ukraine urgently needs the supply of weapons from the announced packages, especially additional air defense systems, to reliably protect our cities, communities and critical infrastructure,” he said in a message on X.
The United States has been a major military backer of Ukraine, providing more than $55 billion in weapons, ammunition and other security assistance since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
– New sanctions against Russia –
The latest aid announcement comes as Ukrainian forces launch an attack on Russia’s western Kursk region – an offensive that is the most serious attack by a foreign military on Russian soil since World War II.
Earlier on Friday, the US Departments of Treasury, State and Commerce announced new sanctions that build on a series of existing measures taken against Russia in response to the invasion.
The sanctions target nearly 400 individuals and entities both inside and outside Russia “whose products and services enable Russia to continue its war effort and evade sanctions,” the U.S. Treasury Department announced in a statement.
The sanctions included 60 Russia-based defense and technology companies that are “critical for the maintenance and development of Russia’s defense industry.”
The State Department said in a separate statement that it was responsible for 190 of the sanctions, and that the Treasury Department was responsible for nearly 200 others.
It added that the designations “aim to disrupt sanctions evasion and target entities in multiple third countries,” including China, along with companies supporting the development of Russian energy projects.
In addition to the sanctions announced Friday, the Commerce Department announced it is taking “aggressive action” to further restrict supplies of items made or labeled as such in the United States to both Russia and Belarus, due to “the Kremlin’s illegal war against Ukraine’. .”
“Today’s actions will further limit Russia’s ability to arm its military by targeting illegal procurement networks designed to circumvent global export controls,” the ministry said in a statement.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)