The U.S. is determined to use all of the money remaining from the USD 61 billion Ukraine aid package before the end of Biden’s term. Russian forces try to establish positions on the islands near Kherson, assemble 300 boats. A Russian warship fires signal munitions at a German military helicopter in the Baltic Sea.
U.S. determined to use all money remaining from USD 61 billion Ukraine aid package before end of Biden’s term
The U.S. is determined to use all of the money remaining from the USD 61 billion authorized by Congress in April to arm Ukraine before President Joe Biden leaves office, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference that followed a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels Wednesday.
“The United States has provided USD 102 billion in assistance to Ukraine, our allies and partners USD 158 billion. This may be the best example of burden sharing that I’ve seen in the 32 years that I’ve been doing this,” Blinken said.
“The United States has been surging our own resources and security assistance to continue to help build up Ukraine’s air defenses, its artillery, its armored vehicles,” he continued.
“We are determined — and it’s fully my intent and the President’s intent — to spend every cent that we have available from the USD 61 billion that were authorized by Congress in the supplemental appropriation,” Blinken said.
Russian forces try to establish positions on islands near Kherson, assemble 300 boats
Russian forces are conducting assault operations in the Kherson direction, trying to establish positions on the river islands, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern group of forces, Colonel Vladyslav Voloshyn told Suspilne, Ukraine’s public broadcaster.
“They aim to gain a foothold, keep it and draw as much of our troops and weapons there as possible. All these assaults end in nothing. They’re all futile. The enemy only takes losses,” he said.
Voloshyn added, citing intelligence reports, that the Russians are training units to conduct assault river crossing operations in the training grounds in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
“They use boats of the so-called ‘Dnepr River Flotilla’ in the exercises, and one such boat division was redeployed to the Tendra and Kinburn Spits in early autumn. They are trained to execute wet gap crossings, and send airborne groups across the river. But these are [exercises] for small infantry groups to conduct assault river crossing operations,” Voloshyn said.
He added that the military command is aware of the 300 boats that Russia has collected for a possible assault in the area. Ukrainian troops are ready to address all scenarios, the spokesperson said.
In an interview with the Financial Times published Wednesday, head of the Kherson regional military administration Oleksandr Prokudin said “Russia wants to launch another offensive here,” adding that Russian forces had assembled “300 boats to cross the river”.
Russian warship fires signal ammunition at German helicopter in Baltic Sea
A Russian warship fired signal munitions at a German military helicopter in the Baltic Sea, German media said on Wednesday.
German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, briefly mentioned the incident on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, but did not provide any details or say when the incident occurred.
The helicopter was undertaking a reconnaissance mission against a backdrop of rising incidents of sabotage targeting critical undersea infrastructure in the area.
The use of signal ammunition is reportedly only common in emergency situations, the reports said.
Baerbock also announced that Baltic Sea patrols would be increased to monitor pipelines and data cables after several acts of suspected sabotage by Russia and its allies in recent months.
