Closing summary
The heads of the US treasury, defence and state departments called on Congress to fund $11.8bn in Ukraine aid as part of President Joe Biden’s supplemental spending request, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Senate Democrats blocked a Republican effort to win quick approval for a bill providing emergency aid to Israel that passed the US House of Representatives last week, but that provides no assistance for Ukraine.
The US has accused Russia of financing a Latin America-wide disinformation campaign that feeds media contacts with propaganda aimed at weakening support for Ukraine and boosting anti-American and anti-Nato sentiments, Reuters reported.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has been quoted as saying that Ukraine had deployed more western air defence systems, as it braces for a second full winter of Russian attacks on energy facilities.
Ukraine is preparing for a renewed Russian assault on the eastern town of Avdiivka, after several recent unsuccessful attempts by Moscow’s forces to surround it, AFP reported. “The third wave will definitely happen. The enemy is regrouping after a second wave of unsuccessful attacks,” Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military administration, said.
The Netherlands sent its first five F-16 fighter jets to Romania on Tuesday for use in the training of Ukrainian pilots, Reuters reported.
Russia formally withdrew from a landmark security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the US for undermining post-cold war security with the enlargement of the Nato military alliance. Nato allies said that, as a consequence, they intended to suspend the operation of the treaty as long as necessary.
G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, Japan said as the group’s foreign ministers prepared to hold virtual talks with Kyiv during a meeting in Tokyo.
Russia foiled an attempted Ukrainian drone attack on Tuesday morning, shooting down drones over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula, Moscow’s defence ministry said.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has thanked the Netherlands for sending F-16 fighter jets to a Romanian airbase where the planes will be used to train Ukrainian and Romanian pilots, and said he hoped they will reach Ukraine “as soon as possible.”
“I am grateful to the Netherlands and prime minister Mark Rutte for leading the way in supporting Ukraine,” he said on social media.
He said the movement of the planes marked a “milestone”.
I’m grateful to the Netherlands and @MinPres Mark Rutte for leading the way in supporting Ukraine. Today marks a milestone: five Dutch F-16s have already arrived at the training center in Romania. We keep working together to welcome F-16s into Ukrainian skies as soon as possible.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) November 7, 2023
