Closing summary
The US has gone through 96% of the funds that it allocated for Ukraine, national security council spokesperson John Kirby has told reporters.
Slovakia’s new government has rejected a previously drafted plan to donate rockets and ammunition to Ukraine, following through on a pledge by incoming prime minister Robert Fico to halt military aid to Kyiv as it fights a Russian invasion.
Ukraine’s military spy agency claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russia-backed lawmaker with a car bomb in the occupied eastern city of Luhansk, an operation it said it conducted with local resistance forces.
Leaders of the G7 group of countries have insisted that their support for Ukraine will “never waver”.
Military cooperation between Russia and China is becoming increasingly important, but the two countries do not intend to build a cold war-style military alliance, Vladimir Putin said as he hosted a top Chinese general.
The EU’s executive recommended that the bloc starts membership negotiations with Ukraine once it fulfils outstanding conditions. “The Commission recommends that the [EU] council opens accession negotiations with Ukraine,” the Brussels-based European Commission said.
Ukraine’s energy ministry said that Russia had attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure with different weapons 60 times in recent weeks.
The Russian security council secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, said that the “destructive” policies of the US and its allies were increasing the risk that nuclear, chemical or biological weapons would be used, Reuters reported.
US funds for Ukraine are 96% depleted, says White House
The US has gone through 96% of the funds that it has currently allocated for Ukraine, national security council spokesperson John Kirby has told reporters.
The US believes that Ukraine can win back its territory, Kirby said, but acknowledged that progress had been slow, Reuters reports.
Some Republicans in the US have become sceptical about further funding for Ukraine’s war effort. The US president, Joe Biden, has urged Congress to pass a $106bn supplemental spending bill for military spending.
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