Joe Biden spoke to Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday and announced a new military aid package ahead of Ukraine’s independence day on Saturday, their offices said. In the US president’s call with his Ukrainian counterpart, Biden reaffirmed Washington’s support, which the White House called “unwavering”, in Ukraine’s war with Russia. The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said on social media the aid package was worth $125m. It included air-defence missiles, counter-drone equipment, anti-armour missiles and ammunition, the White House said. Austin also spoke on Friday with his Ukrainian counterpart, Rustem Umerov.
Zelenskiy said after the call: “Ukraine critically needs the supply of weapons from the announced packages, particularly additional air defence systems for the reliable protection of cities, communities and critical infrastructure,” a statement from the Ukrainian president’s office said. The latest US aid announcement comes as Ukrainian troops press an attack into Russia’s western Kursk region, while Russian troops are making gains in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine around the city of Pokrovsk, a critical logistics hub.
India’s Narendra Modi arrived in Kyiv on Friday on a closely watched visit, the first by an Indian prime minister since Ukraine gained independence in 1991. He told Zelenskiy he was “personally” ready to play a role “as a friend” to bring peace to Ukraine. “The road to resolution can only be found through dialogue and diplomacy,” Modi said. “And we should move in that direction without wasting any time. Both sides should sit together to find a way out of this crisis.” Zelenskiy said “history was made” and that “India supports Ukraine’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity”. An adviser in the Ukrainian president’s office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Modi’s visit to Kyiv was significant because Delhi “really has a certain influence” over Moscow.
The US unveiled sweeping sanctions against almost 400 individuals and companies tied to Russia’s war in Ukraine, expanding existing measures to curb Moscow over the invasion. Among those designated in the moves – announced on Friday by the US Treasury, state and commerce departments – were 60 Russia-based defence and technology firms “critical for the sustainment and development of Russia’s defence industry”, the Treasury department said. It also said the sanctions targeted individuals and companies inside and outside of Russia “whose products and services enable Russia to sustain its war effort and evade sanctions”.
Ukraine’s military says it used high-precision US glide bombs to strike Russia’s Kursk region and that is has recaptured some territory in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv that has been under a Russian offensive since spring. Ukraine’s air force commander, Lt Gen Mykola Oleschuk, issued a video purporting to show a Russian platoon base being hit in Kursk. He said the attack with US-supplied GBU-39 bombs resulted in Russian casualties and the destruction of equipment. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s 3rd separate assault brigade said its forces advanced nearly 2 sq km (about three-quarters of a square mile) in the Kharkiv region.
Former UN weapons inspector Hans Blix said he believed Vladimir Putin would not risk a catastrophe at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant amid mounting international concern over its safety. The Swedish former foreign minister told Agence France-Presse that Putin was “very rational” and “knows what he’s doing”. Blix, 96, who headed the International Atomic Energy Agency from 1981 to 1997, said he didn’t think Russia would deliberately attack the Zaporizhzhia plant. “I would be very surprised if the Russians had not instructed their military to stay away from severe damage.”
The supply of electricity to the Zaporizhzhia plant has resumed via a high-voltage line, Ukrainian nuclear power firm Energoatom said on Friday. Russia’s Rosatom nuclear company said earlier in the day that automatic systems of Europe’s biggest station – in a Russian-controlled part of Ukraine – switched off one of the lines.
Russians marked a year since the death of Russian paramilitary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin with flowers and tributes. At a curbside in Moscow just a few hundred metres from the Kremlin, streams of his supporters came on Friday to lay bouquets of flowers. The late mercenary boss died two months after leading an armed rebellion against Russia’s military leadership but is still revered by many who see him as a patriot, Agence France-Presse reported.
