President Biden signed a $ 40 billion aid bill to Ukraine while attending a South Korean state dinner as Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky hinted he might be ready to cede territory to Russia to save civilian lives.
The bill passed by Congress with bipartisan support includes $ 20 billion in military and intelligence support, $ 8 billion in total economic support, $ 5 billion to tackle global food shortages that could result from the collapse of Ukrainian agriculture. and more than $ 1 billion to help refugees. The bill brings the total value of US aid after the February 24 invasion of Russia to a staggering $ 54 billion.
The bill was delivered to Biden under unusual circumstances: a U.S. official carried a copy on a trade flight to Seoul for the president to sign after being detained in the Senate for a week by Rand Paul of Kentucky, according to a White House official.
Defense Minister Lloyd Austin tweeted that he would host a meeting on Monday of Ukraine’s Contact Group, which will include defense officials from more than 40 countries. Prior to the meeting, he had a telephone conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart, Olesky Reznikov, to discuss “Ukraine’s military requirements,” the statement said.
The signing came a day after Russia’s most significant victory to date in nearly four months of war, the takeover of the port city of Mariupol and the day Zelensky celebrated his third anniversary.
A house destroyed by a rocket fired by a Russian plane can be seen in Bahmur, Donbass, Ukraine. Andoni Lubaki / Sipa USA
Zelensky said he may be ready to cede part of eastern Ukraine to Russia to spare the population.
“I believe that no matter what appetite different parts of our population have, the most valuable thing is to save more people, soldiers,” Zelenski told a briefing on Saturday.
“We broke the backbone of one of the strongest armies in the world. We have already done it. Including psychological. “They will not stand on their own two feet in the next few years,” Zelenski said. “But let’s not forget that all our soldiers also want to live.”
“The conflict will be bloody, there will be battles, but it will only end through diplomacy,” Zelenski said. UKRINFORM / Ukrinform / Future Publishing via Getty Images
The fall of Mariupol led to the capitulation of more than 2,600 soldiers who remained in the Azovstal massive steel production. They were taken to a prisoner-of-war camp in the east of the country, raising fears they could face tribunals to continue Russian propaganda about what he said included neo-Nazis.
Russia has separately banned another 963 Americans from entering the country, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and actor Morgan Freeman, who once appeared in a video criticizing Russia, along with Biden and current Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, TASS reported.
Also Saturday, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Saveliev said Western sanctions against Russia “have virtually shattered all the logistics corridors used by the country for trade,” TASS reported.
“We are forced to look for new logistics corridors together,” Saveliev said. Moscow is looking for alternative trade routes, such as connecting India with Central Asia, Russia and Europe via Iran, he said.
Smoke rises from the Azovstal metallurgical plant in Mariupol during the shelling. AP Photo / Alexey Alexandrov
As long as Ukraine can win on the battlefield, the war will only end “at the negotiating table,” Zelensky told the BBC.
“The conflict will be bloody, there will be battles, but it will only end through diplomacy,” Zelenski said.
“No one is simply giving anything away, but there is land that they have entered and occupied, and there are some areas in which they have advanced very far,” Zelenski continued. “To get to the line that existed before [February] 24th without unnecessary losses, I think … that would be a victory for our country. “
“We broke the backbone of one of the strongest armies in the world. We have already done it. Including psychological. “They will not stand on their own two feet in the next few years,” Zelenski said. “But let’s not forget that all our soldiers also want to live.”
Russia, meanwhile, has continued to smash many cities in the east, including Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, where the mayor said in a Telegram post that thousands of buildings have been damaged or destroyed, including nearly 170 schools, including hospitals and other civilian infrastructure. .
In Severodonetsk, home to about 100,000 people, several thousand people remain under constant attack, including many elderly people who refuse to leave their homes.
About 50 miles west of Severodonetsk, the city of Svyatohirsk was also shelled early Saturday, destroying a local school built in 2016 with the help of the United Nations and Japan.
Russia’s Gazprom has also stopped supplying gas to Finland. The closure comes days after Finland and Sweden applied for NATO membership.
Russia has said it is cutting off fuel supplies because Finland has refused to pay in rubles, which it has demanded because of Western sanctions.
With postal wires
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