The Biden administration is expected to announce a new Ukraine weapons aid package on Friday that will include cluster munitions, two US officials have told Reuters. Speaking to the news agency on condition of anonymity, the officials said a weapons aid package that included cluster munitions fired by a 155mm Howitzer cannon would be announced.
Human Rights Watch has called on Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions and urged the US not to supply them. Cluster munitions, which were first used in the second world war and are banned by more than 120 countries, normally release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area, threatening civilians.
Romania is considering opening a regional training hub for F-16 fighter jet pilots that would ultimately be available to its Nato allies and partners, including Ukraine. “Romanian pilots operating F-16 planes will be trained here, and the facility will later be open to pilots from allied states and Nato partners, including Ukraine,” the country’s supreme defence council said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit the Czech Republic on Friday to talk about defence support and the Vilnius Nato summit, before heading to Turkey later for talks with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the Black Sea grain deal and developments in the war.
Ukraine and Bulgaria have agreed on more active cooperation in the defence sector. “We discussed the military aid which Bulgaria gives to our country. We count on the continuation of the cooperation which has already saved many lives,” Zelenskiy told a press conference in Sofia, where he met Bulgarian leaders including the prime minister, Nikolai Denkov.
