1: the us has pledged $1.85bn of military aid, including the patriot missile system, to ukraine, prompting strong criticism from russia. anatoly antonov, russia’s us ambassador, said these “provocative actions” would lead to an escalation of tensions, while dmitry peskov accused the us of fighting a proxy war. maria zakharova, russian foreign ministry spokesperson, stated that the talks in washington demonstrated that neither ukraine nor the us are striving for peace.
2: president zelensky visited washington and requested $45bn of us emergency assistance in addition to the $1.85bn package already approved. republican support for continued aid to ukraine is weakening, and president zelensky warned congress that ukraine was still standing against all odds in the face of russian aggression. he made a plea for us support, drawing parallels to american soldiers who fought the nazis during world war two and presented congress with a battle flag signed by the defenders of bakhmut, a frontline city in the east of ukraine.
3: president biden reassured reporters that he was “not at all worried” about holding the international coalition together, and the us has already provided $50bn of humanitarian, financial and security assistance to ukraine, the highest amount of any country. president zelensky made a stop in poland on his way home to meet with president andrzej duda, one of his strongest allies. since russia invaded ukraine in february, the us military estimates that over 200,000 soldiers have been killed or injured, along with 40,000 civilian deaths, and the un has recorded 7.8 million people as refugees from ukraine across europe.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-64066584?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
