Ukraine Update…789 Days of the Russian Conflict…Ukraine waits for the stuff to arrive…

President Biden HAS signed the 2024 Foreign Aid Bill for Ukraine….

Some of the weapons, ammo and equipment IS ALREADY on its way to Ukraine…..

(Europe is also sending aid to Ukraine)

Ukraine President Zelensky says ‘Thank You’ to Americans and asks when does the stuff arrive?

Drone wars continue between Ukraine and Russia…..

NATO exercises will start on 26 April in Finland….

Russian’s ain’t happy….

The Pentagon and others will watch what the Ukraine does with the increased weapons….

 

• UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said the UK and Germany will provide “unwavering support” for Ukraine “for as long as it takes”, as he visited Berlin to deepen defence and security ties between the two allies. Sunak said “every country has got different things that it can bring to the table” after German chancellor Olaf Scholz said his decision not to deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv “will not change”.

• German chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Wednesday that Europe must continue to step up its help for Ukraine even after the approval of a big US aid package, but made clear that he is sticking to his refusal to send Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Kyiv. “But I also want to say clearly that the United States’s decision doesn’t release us here in Europe from the task of further expanding our support for Ukraine so that the country can defend itself against the aggressor,” he said.

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged “speed” on providing weapons to Ukraine. In a social media post on X, Zelenskiy wrote: “The key now is speed. The speed of implementing agreements with partners on the supply of weapons for our warriors. The speed of eliminating all Russian schemes to circumvent sanctions. The speed of finding political solutions to protect lives from Russian terror.”

• The US Senate voted resoundingly on Tuesday to approve $95bn in aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as a bipartisan super-majority united to send the long-stalled package to Joe Biden’s desk for signature. “Today the Senate sends a unified message to the entire world: America will always defend democracy in its hour of need,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer in a floor speech on Tuesday afternoon. “We are showing Putin that betting against America is always, always a grave mistake.”

• Ukraine’s foreign minister enthusiastically praised US politicians for approving a long-delayed $61bn military aid package for Ukraine, but cautioned that fresh supplies would not immediately turn the tide on the battlefield. “Hallelujah,” Dmytro Kuleba said when asked for his reaction to Tuesday’s final vote by the US Senate. He added that he was hopeful that the White House would unveil a new package of weapons “within days, maybe hours,” and it was “just a matter of logistics” to get the supplies to the frontline.

• Zelenskiy said he is “grateful to the United States Senate for approving vital aid to Ukraine today”, after a US bill was passed which allocates $60.84bn to support Ukraine in its battle to repel Russia’s invasion. In a social media post on X, Zelenskiy thanked Schumer and the Republican Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, for “their strong leadership in advancing this bipartisan legislation”. He also thanked “all US Senators on both sides of the aisle who voted in favor of it”.

• The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia would further expand its “buffer zone” inside Ukraine if Kyiv takes delivery of longer-range Atcams missiles from the US that allow it to strike deeper inside Russia. The US is preparing a $1bn military aid package for Ukraine, the first to be sourced from the yet to be signed $95bn foreign aid bill, two US officials told Reuters on Tuesday.

• Ukrainian drones attacked oil facilities in western Russia overnight, defence sources in Kyiv confirmed on Wednesday. Officials in the western Russian regions of Smolensk and Lipetsk first announced the attacks, blaming Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles for starting blazes at energy sites. “The fire is localised. There is no threat of its spread beyond the facilities,” Smolensk regional governor Vasily Anokhin said, adding that no one was injured or killed.

• Another drone attack targeted the Lipetsk region farther south, which houses metallurgical and pharmaceutical sites, governor Igor Artamonov said on Wednesday.

• Russian forces hit a Ukrainian drone production facility and a Ukrainian army fuel depot, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.

• Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and injured six people in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, early on Wednesday, governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram. The attack damaged three residential buildings, two offices, three non-residential buildings and a gas pipeline in the central district of the city, according to the governor’s statement.

• Russia’s RIA state news agency reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources within Russian forces, that their attack hit soldiers’ quarters in Kharkiv where Ukrainian military personnel were stationed. Reuters could not independently verify the reports.

• A well-connected Russian deputy defence minister has been charged with bribe-taking, in the highest-profile corruption scandal in the country in years. Timur Ivanov, 47, who was responsible for Russia’s military infrastructure projects, was detained by the FSB services late on Tuesday evening.

• On Wednesday, Ivanov, wearing his military uniform, appeared behind a glass cage in a Moscow court, where he was formally arrested and charged with high bribery. The court remanded him in custody for two months and placed him in the high-security Lefortovo prison in Moscow.

• Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov on Wednesday dismissed media speculation about the reasons behind the arrest of Ivanov on bribery charges, and urged reporters to focus on official information.

• Russian forces have made significant advances in a narrow corridor in eastern Ukraine as an offensive by Moscow to take territory before western military aid arrives appears to be gathering pace. Footage postedby Kremlin military bloggers shows a Russian tricolour flying above the shattered village of Ocheretyne. Russian troops reportedly entered the territory on Sunday, north-west of the town of Avdiivka, after advancing about 5km in 10 days. Moscow’s defence ministry claimed Ukrainian troops fled Ocheretyne in small groups and under heavy fire.

• Nato exercises starting on 26 April in Finland and in close proximity to the Russian-Finnish border are provocative in nature, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, told RIA state news agency in remarks published on Wednesday.

• The UK has been accused of “helping Russia pay for its war on Ukraine” by continuing to import record amounts of refined oil from countries processing Kremlin fossil fuels. Government data analysed by the environmental news site Desmog shows that imports of refined oil from India, China and Turkey amounted to £2.2bn in 2023, the same record value as the previous year, up from £434.2m in 2021. Russia is the largest crude oil supplier to India and China, while Turkey has become one of the biggest importers of Russian oil since the Kremlin launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

• The priest who oversaw a memorial service for late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been suspended for three years by the head of the country’s Orthodox Church. An order on the Moscow diocese website demoted Dmitry Safronov from his position as priest to that of a psalm-reader and stripped him of the right to give blessings or to wear a cassock for the next three years. According to the Associated Press, no reason was given for the decision…..

More…

Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, April 24, 2024Apr 24, 2024 – ISW Press