Published January 3, 2024
Ukraine is considering no alternative to securing stalled U.S. military assistance for its war against Russia and is confident the U.S. Congress will give its approval to release the aid, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday.
“We don’t have a Plan B. We are confident in Plan A,” Kuleba told CNN in an interview.
“Ukraine will always fight with the resources given to it. And … what is given to Ukraine is not charity. It’s an investment in the protection of NATO and in the protection of the prosperity of the American people,” he said.
Kuleba said that if Russia prevailed in the conflict, now more than 22 months old, “other leaders will be tempted to follow in Russia’s footprints. And ensuring security in this part of the world and deterring these leaders will require a much, much higher price tag for the United States.”
Kuleba said any officials suggesting that Russian President Vladimir Putin would never attack a NATO member state if the Kremlin succeeded in Ukraine “are making a huge mistake. And they should change their job.”
The U.S. administration’s request for another $61 billion in support for Ukraine has been bogged down in the U.S. Congress, where Republicans say it must be paired with tougher immigration controls along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Independent U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, of Arizona, which is among the states that border Mexico, said on Wednesday that Senate negotiators were “closing in” on a bipartisan border security deal, which Congress could couple with new emergency aid for Ukraine and Israel.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.newsmax.com
RELATED: Ukraine: 2024 starts with ‘loss, pain, and anguish’ amid intense Russian strikes
Published January 2, 2024
In a statement on Tuesday, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Denise Brown strongly condemned the assaults targeting mostly cities.
“For the people of Ukraine, the new year started with loss, pain, and anguish. For the third day in a row, vast aerial assaults by the Russian Federation have caused death – including several children – and destruction of homes”, Ms. Brown stated.
She emphasized that the situation is particularly alarming as many parts of the capital, Kyiv, have been left without electricity or water, which is particularly dangerous as temperatures are forecast to drop to -20 degrees Celsius later this week.
Support to Ukraine
The humanitarian crisis is equally harsh in the Donetsk Region, where hostilities have left hundreds of thousands of people without any power, exacerbating the already dire situation.
In the face of this devastation, Ms. Brown reiterated the commitment of humanitarians to continue supporting the people of Ukraine.
“Today, my thoughts are with the families and friends of those killed or injured, and with those who fear for the missing”, Ms. Brown said, stressing the need to aid those “suffering the devastation caused by Russia’s invasion.”
In a tweet, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) posted that many children in the capital were forced to spend the night sheltering in the city’s metro stations.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.news.un.org
RELATED: Russia continues to step up assault on Ukraine with missile barrage
Russia has escalated its attacks on Ukraine as its invasion enters a third calendar year.
Hundreds of Russian missiles and drones struck Kyiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday [Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters]
Published January 2, 2024
Russia has maintained its recent intensification of air attacks on Ukraine as it unleashed a huge overnight assault.
Hundreds of Russian missiles and drones struck the capital, Kyiv, and Kharkiv on Tuesday. The intensified attack on the country’s two largest cities came just a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to exact “revenge” for a deadly assault on the Russian city of Belgorod.
However, the Russian strikes follow a trend that has seen it escalate its air attacks on Ukraine in recent days. With the front line largely bogged down in trench warfare, Moscow has returned to its tactic from last winter, during which it targeted infrastructure, especially energy and heating, leaving millions of Ukrainians struggling to stay warm.
That has seen a hike in civilian casualties amid numerous strikes in urban areas. Following Tuesday’s attacks, Russia’s Ministry of Defence claimed that it had destroyed all “military-industrial” installations targeted.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said four people had been killed and at least 92 injured in Tuesday’s attacks, noting that Russia had launched about 170 Shahed attack drones and dozens of different missiles at Ukraine since the last day of 2023.
Russia, he said, would “answer for every life taken away”.
Ukraine struck back shortly afterwards, sending four Alder MLRS missiles towards Belgorod. All were intercepted by Russian forces, according to regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov. Local authorities reported that one person had been hospitalised.
READ FULL ARTICLE
SOURCE: www.aljazeera.com
