Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday echoed U.S. President Donald Trump’s claim the conflict in Ukraine could have been prevented had he been in the White House in 2022.
Russia launched an aerial attack on Ukraine on Tuesday, striking the capital and other regions with multiple missiles and drones.
President Joe Biden said Monday that the United States will send nearly $2.5 billion more in weapons to Ukraine as his administration works quickly to spend all the money it has available to help Kyiv fight off Russia before President-elect Donald Trump takes office.
Russia launched 188 drones against most regions of Ukraine in a nighttime blitz, the Ukrainian air force said Tuesday, describing it as a record number of drones deployed in a single attack.
The Biden administration announced Wednesday that it will give Ukraine antipersonnel mines to help it slow Russia’s battlefield advances, marking the second major shift on U.S. military support for Kyiv in days.
The United States “will get Ukraine what it needs” to fight its war with Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday, but he gave no hint that Washington might endorse key planks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s so-called “victory plan.”
U.S. President Joe Biden said it’s important for Ukraine’s Western allies to “sustain our resolve” in supporting the country as he held meetings Friday with European partners, with the upcoming U.S. presidential election casting a long shadow over his visit to Germany.
The United States and Britain pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid to Ukraine on Wednesday during a visit to Kyiv by their top diplomats as Ukrainian officials renewed their pleas to use Western-provided missiles against targets deeper inside Russia.
Ukraine needs the ability to strike deep within Russia now, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told U.S. and allied military leaders Friday as Kyiv more fervently pressed the West to loosen weapons use restrictions and allow it to target Russian air bases and launch sites far from the border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy embraced the support Thursday of allies who in the past two days have provided substantial new aid and a path to joining NATO, even as he emphatically pushed for the help to arrive faster and for restrictions to be lifted on the use of U.S. weapons to attack military targets inside Russia.
