Senior U.S. official Jake Sullivan and Ukraine’s chief of staff met after the press conference.
Kyiv:
Washington cannot predict when Congress will pass a $60 billion military aid package vital to Ukraine, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday, as Volodymyr Zelensky called for support after a Russian missile strike killed at least five people The West conducts air defense.
A new round of aerial bombardment by both sides killed civilians on Wednesday, as the war entered its third year and attacks escalated.
Kiev’s military is facing manpower and ammunition shortages due to political wrangling in the U.S. Congress, creating uncertainty about the future of Western support.
“This has taken too long. I know that and you know that,” U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said of the stalled aid bill during a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday.
“I’m not going to predict exactly when this will be done, but we’re working to get it done as quickly as possible … but I can’t make a specific prediction today,” he told reporters at a news conference. Capital of Ukraine.
U.S. House Republicans have been blocking a sweeping aid package since last year as the funding became mired in a domestic debate over President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Washington is Ukraine’s most important military backer, providing tens of billions of dollars in support since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Tuesday he was shocked that the aid package had not yet been unlocked.
On Wednesday, President Zelensky said the West had important air defense systems that could save Ukrainian lives if delivered to Ukraine.
-“Get that money”-
Despite the delay in aid, Sullivan said he was “confident” that the impasse could be overcome.
“We’re going to get that money out,” he said.
Moscow and Kiev both said civilians were killed in new airstrikes on Wednesday.
“Today, a Russian missile killed five people in Kharkiv,” Zelensky said in an evening video address.
Local officials said that nine other people were injured and five others were missing as the search and rescue operations continued into the night. They warned the death toll could rise.
Ukrainian police said a Russian missile hit an eight-story building and a factory around 1:00 pm local time (1100 GMT) in the city, 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Russian border .
Pictures showed a fire blazing inside the building, with at least five fire trucks on scene. Ukraine’s emergency services released photos as nightfall showed the factory’s windows blown out and firefighters walking through the charred interior.
Zelensky reiterated his call for an air defense system after the attack.
“Our partners have these defense systems. Our partners need to understand that air defense systems have to be (used to) protect life,” he said in a video address.
-“massive strike”-
The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Kharkiv, said multiple attacks had killed three people.
“Starting early in the morning, the Graivoron region has been subject to massive attacks, including the use of multiple rocket launch systems,” governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a post on Telegram on Wednesday.
Two people died there and another man was killed by shrapnel in the regional capital Belgorod, when his car was hit, Gradkov said.
Over the past two weeks, Kiev has launched a wave of attacks ahead of Russia’s presidential election, with escalating drone, rocket and artillery attacks across the region. Pro-Ukrainian paramilitary groups have also attempted to carry out armed attacks across the border.
Gradkov said some schools in Belgorod would move to remote learning, a day after he ordered the evacuation of 9,000 children from areas closest to the Ukrainian border.
-“victory”-
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin vowed that he would restore order to border areas as the fallout from his incursions continued to spread across Russian territory.
“The first thing is of course to ensure safety. There are different ways and they are not easy, but we will do it,” he said without elaborating.
Speaking in the Kremlin’s gilded Andreev Hall, Putin also said he would succeed on the battlefield after winning the weekend’s presidential election without facing any competition.
“The electoral victory is just a prelude to those victories that Russia desperately needs and that are sure to come,” he said.
Russian forces seized territory for the first time in nearly a year and this week claimed further gains in the eastern Donetsk region.
Ukraine also reported civilian deaths near fighting areas on Wednesday.
In the south of the country, Russian shelling killed two people outside the city of Kherson and two more near Vugledar in the eastern Donetsk region.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
