President Joe Biden announces $500 million aid to help Ukrainian military

US President Joe Biden and Ukraine counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday discussed “additional capabilities” to help the Ukrainian military, during a telephone call, the White House said in a statement.

The US President also told Zelensky that the United States would provide the Ukrainian government with $500 million in direct aid, as Kyiv battles against invading Russian forces.

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In a statement, the White House said, “The leaders discussed… continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country.”

On Wednesday, Russian forces bombarded the outskirts of Kyiv and a besieged city in northern Ukraine, a day after promising to scale down operations there in what the West dismissed as a ploy to regroup by invaders suffering heavy losses.

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Nearly five weeks into an invasion in which it has failed to capture any major cities, Russia had said on Tuesday it would curtail operations near Kyiv and the northern city of Chernihiv “to increase mutual trust” for peace talks.

“It’s not true,” Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a video address to EU regional officials. “The whole night we listened to sirens, to rocket attacks and we listened to huge explosions east of Kyiv and north of Kyiv. There are immense battles there, people died, still die.”

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Intensified bombardment could be heard in Kyiv on Wednesday morning from suburbs where Ukrainian forces have regained territory in recent days. The capital itself was not hit, but windows rattled from the relentless artillery on its outskirts.

Chernihiv’s mayor Vladyslav Astroshenko said Russian bombardment of that city had intensified over the past 24 hours, with more than 100,000 people trapped inside with just enough food and medical supplies to last about another week.