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President Joe Biden has told his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, that the United States will provide a small number of long-range missiles to aid the war with Russia, three U.S. officials and a congressional official familiar with the discussions told NBC News on Friday. The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly, did not say when the missiles would be delivered or when a public announcement would be made. For months, Ukraine has asked for the Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS, which would give Kyiv the ability to strike targets from as far away as about 180...

The Pentagon will exempt its Ukraine operations from a potential shutdown if lawmakers can’t agree on a deal to fund the government by the end of the month, allowing key training and other activities in support of Kyiv’s forces to move ahead uninterrupted, according to a Defense Department spokesperson. (snip)“Operation Atlantic Resolve is an excepted activity under a government lapse in appropriations,” Sherwood said, referring to the named operation for DOD’s activities in response to the Russian invasion. The move means that the U.S. military’s activities related to the war, such as training of Ukrainian soldiers on American tactics and...

President Biden on Tuesday called on United Nation members to stand up to “naked aggression” against Ukraine by Russia, arguing that if Ukraine was not protected, no nation would feel protected. “Russia believes that the world will grow weary and allow it to brutalize Ukraine without consequence. But I ask you this: If we abandon the core principles of the UN Charter to appease an aggressor, can any member state feel confident that they are protected if we allow Ukraine to be carved up? Is the independence of any nation secure?” he said. “The answer is no. We must stand...

Former Vice President Mike Pence warned this week that if Russian forces are not repelled in Ukraine, U.S. military service members may have to step up to the fight. "I’m convinced that if the Ukrainian military doesn’t stop and repel that Russian invasion, it’s not going to be too long before that Russian army crosses a border that our men and women in uniform are going to have to go and fight under our NATO Treaty," Mr. Pence said during a town hall-style interview with NewsNation on Wednesday. "I truly believe it. Whether that's Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, ... Poland, I...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the U.S. during the United Nations General Assembly. Zelenskyy’s trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as $24 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion. An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive visit, said Zelenskyy will meet with Biden at the White House next Thursday. The trip to the Capitol was confirmed by two congressional aides granted anonymity to discuss the plans....

The Biden administration is likely to send Ukraine long-range Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, to help in its fight to repel the Russian invasion of its territory, according to U.S. officials. "They are coming," said one official who had access to security assistance plans. The official noted that, as always, such plans are subject to change until officially announced. A second official said the missiles are "on the table" and likely to be included in an upcoming security assistance package, adding that a final decision has not been made. It could be months before Ukraine receives the missiles, according...

“The United States is committed to empowering Ukraine to write its own future. In the crucible of President Putin’s brutal and ongoing war, the United States and Ukraine have forged a partnership that is stronger than ever and growing every day. We will continue to stand by Ukraine’s side,” Blinken said after a meeting with Ukraine’s foreign minister. Blinken also said the Ukraine War was a fight “we must and will win.” “Now, we have no illusions that the path forward will be easy, but this is a fight that we must and we will win for any country threatened...

Wagner Group commander Dmitry Utkin was reportedly among the 10 people killed in a plane crash north of Moscow that also is believed to have claimed the life of Yevgeny Prigozhin. Utkin, a former Russian military intelligence officer, has Nazi tattoos on his body. He helped co-found the militant group and came up with the name “Wagner,” which derived from Adolf Hilter’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner. According to reports, Utkin and Prigozhin were just two of Wagner's top men who were listed as passengers on the flight.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said during a February trip to Europe that there is no “time limit” on American support for Ukraine, according to a report released on Monday. Politico released a detailed piece about McConnell’s efforts to curb the ascending Trumpist wing of the Republican Party and fend off Trump-leaning Republicans’ noninterventionist sentiment. He told Politico that the “most important thing going on internationally right now is the Ukraine war.”

Senate Democrats banded together Wednesday night to oppose the creation of a new office to audit US military assistance for Ukraine as part of a provision in the annual defense spending bill. Forty-five Democrats — including every member of the Senate Armed Services Committee — voted down an amendment to establish an Office of the Lead Inspector General for Ukraine Assistance as part of the fiscal year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). Sen. Angus King (I-Maine), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also joined the Democrats in rejecting the new oversight office.

Former Vice President Pence, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, said Sunday President Biden has done a “terrible job” explaining America’s interest in Ukraine.“I know he said we’re there as long as it takes, but, frankly, it shouldn’t take that long,” Pence told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” “This administration has been, not surprisingly, dragging their feet on providing military support from early on. They cut off the military aid that we had been providing to Ukraine under the Trump/Pence administration in the early going.”Biden said earlier this month that the United States would “not waver,” on support...

An open letter signed by “46 foreign policy experts” calling for more arms shipments to Ukraine published in POLITICO failed to mention ties of nearly half of the signatories to the defence industry, allegedly glossing over conflicts of interest, the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft claimed.

US President Joe Biden has reportedly made the decision to provide cluster bombs to Ukraine's armed forces to enable troops to target well-entrenched Russian forces on the front lines. The US administration is expected to formally announce this action on Friday (July 7) as part of a new military aid package valued at $800million.

If Ukraine is defeated in the war, the U.S. will have to send troops to fight Russia's further aggression, former Vice President Mike Pence said on the Hugh Hewitt Show on July 5."I have no doubt that if (Russian dictator) Vladimir Putin overran Ukraine, it would not be too long... before the Russian military crossed a border where we would have to send our fighting men and women to fight against them," the Republican presidential candidate said.Pence called for speaking the truth about Russian war crimes, referencing his June 29 visit to Kyiv's suburbs Bucha and Irpin where massacres against...

The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has said all Nato allies are backing a plan to give Ukraine a fast track to Nato membership of the kind offered to Sweden and Finland earlier this year. Speaking on the margins of the two-day Ukraine Recovery conference in London, Cleverly said the UK was “very, very supportive” of Ukraine being able to join Nato without the usual need for it to meet the conditions set out in a Nato membership action plan (Map). The French foreign minister, Catherine Colonna, was more cautious but said circumstances had changed since 2008 when Ukraine was...

The Pentagon said Tuesday that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two years — about double early estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages. Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show there was an error of $3.6 billion in the current fiscal year and $2.6 billion...

Before Russia invaded Ukraine, these fighters were neo-Nazis. They still are. Vladimir Putin’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine has already resulted in millions of losers—chief among them the civilians who’ve been tortured, murdered, forced to become refugees, or forced to spend their days worrying about loved ones fighting Russia. But there are also winners: the neofascists whom Putin’s war has turned into heroes. For seven years, Western institutions have warned about Ukraine’s Azov Movement, which began as a neo-Nazi paramilitary group in 2014 and became notorious for its worldwide recruitment of extremists. Then came Russia’s invasion. Within months, Azov fighters...

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in a television interview on Thursday that the United States could face the "collapse of NATO" or a direct conflict with Russia if Ukraine does not win the war."Is he ready to go to war? To fight, to send his kids? Are they ready to die?" Zelenskyy asked. "Because anyway, they will have to do this if NATO gets involved."Former President Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner in the 2024 presidential election, would not commit to supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, during a CNN town hall last month. Instead, Trump pledged to end the...

JUST IN - Biden administration intends to provide Ukraine with depleted-uranium tank rounds — WSJ

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Pentagon has overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by at least $3 billion — an accounting error that could be a boon for the war effort because it will allow the Defense Department to send more weapons now without asking Congress for more money. The acknowledgment Thursday comes at a time when Pentagon is under increased pressure by Congress to show accountability for the billions of dollars it has sent in weapons, ammunition and equipment to Ukraine and as some lawmakers question whether that level of support should continue. It also...