Live blog: US will 'quickly' send military aid to Kiev, Biden to Zelenskyy

Monday, April 22, 2024

1713 GMT — The United States will act swiftly to provide military assistance to help Kiev in its battle against Russia's offensive, President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a call.

According to a White House readout, Biden underscored America's "lasting commitment" to Ukraine and said it will "quickly provide significant new security assistance packages to meet Ukraine's urgent battlefield and air defence needs" as soon as the US Senate passes an expected aid package and Biden signs it into law.

The Senate is expected to take up the $61 billion measure, which cleared the House of Representatives last week, on Tuesday.

More updates 👇

1623 GMT — Russia has up to 25,000 troops trying to storm Chasiv Yar: Kiev

Russia has a force of 20,000-25,000 troops trying to storm the eastern Ukrainian town of Chasiv Yar and surrounding villages, Ukraine's military said, describing the situation in the area as difficult.

Ukraine has full control of Chasiv Yar, which lies on strategic high ground in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, but Kiev's top commander has said Russia wants to capture the town by May 9 when it marks Soviet Victory Day in World War Two.

"The situation around the town is difficult, however the situation is controllable... Our defenders are both receiving reinforcement and stabilising the line," said Nazar Voloshyn, a spokesman for the eastern military command.

"It's somewhere around 20,000-25,000 Russian servicemen trying to storm Chasiv Yar and the outskirts of settlements near it," he said in televised comments on public broadcaster Suspilne.

1556 GMT — TV tower collapses in Ukraine's Kharkiv after Russian missile attack

The 240-metre television tower in Ukraine's city of Kharkiv broke in half and fell to the ground, footage obtained by Reuters showed, after what local officials said was likely a Russian missile attack on television infrastructure.

The broadcasting signal was disrupted in Ukraine's second-largest city, which has been pounded by Russian missile and drone strikes in recent weeks.

"At the moment there are interruptions to the digital television signal," regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

There were no casualties because workers were in shelters, he added.

1535 GMT — Norway will contribute to improving air defence of Ukraine: Premier

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store has said that his country would contribute to improving the air defence of Ukraine, local media reported.

Store met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz where he announced that Norway would participate in an international air defence initiative for Ukraine.

The Nordic country will revise the budget of the Nansen program, which provides military and civilian support to Ukraine for $6.8 billion over five years, according to TV2.

"We have very little time to delay, so Norway will be involved in financing. There are several other countries that are contributing to this, because there are air defence systems that can get to Ukraine quite quickly, and they have been working intensively on this in the last few days and weeks," he said.

Store emphasised that countries need to send air defence systems from their warehouses as producing them takes time.

0839 GMT — Ukraine warns situation on war frontline will worsen in May

The situation for Ukraine on its frontline is likely to steadily deteriorate in coming weeks, Ukraine's military intelligence chief said in an interview.

His assessment comes as outgunned and outmanned Ukrainian forces struggle to hold back Russian troops who have grained ground in recent months and are expected to soon step up their offensive.

"In our opinion, a rather difficult situation awaits us in the near future," Kyrylo Budanov told the BBC's Ukrainian service.

"But it is not catastrophic, and we need to understand that. Armageddon will not happen, as many people are now saying," he said.

"But there will be problems starting from mid-May. I am talking about the front in particular... It will be a difficult period in mid-May, early June," Budanov said.

0759 GMT — Poland 'ready' to host nuclear weapons: president

Poland is ready to host nuclear arms if NATO decides to deploy the weapons in the face of Russia reinforcing its armaments in Belarus and Kaliningrad, President Andrzej Duda has said.

"If our allies decide to deploy nuclear arms on our territory as part of nuclear sharing, to reinforce NATO's eastern flank, we are ready to do so," Duda said in an interview published by the Fakt daily.

Poland, a NATO member and a staunch supporter of Ukraine, shares a border with both Russia's Kaliningrad exclave and with Belarus, Moscow's ally.

0723 GMT — Russia says West is increasing risk of nuclear war

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has said the West was teetering dangerously on the brink of a direct military clash between nuclear powers due to its support of Ukraine.

Lavrov said the United States and NATO were obsessed with the idea of inflicting "strategic defeat" on Russia and there were risks in such confrontation that could lead to an increased level of nuclear danger.

0653 GMT — Russia's Gazprom to send 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe

Russian gas producer Gazprom has said it would send 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of natural gas to Europe via Ukraine on Monday, compared with 42.1 mcm sent on Sunday.

0618 GMT — Russia should confiscate Western assets now after US move: top lawmaker

Russia now has grounds to confiscate Western assets after the US House of Representatives passed legislation that would allow the potential transfer of seized Russian assets to Ukraine, a top Russian lawmaker has said.

"Washington has passed a law on the confiscation of Russian assets in order to provoke the EU to take the same step, which will be devastating for the European economy," Vyacheslav Volodin, the Duma speaker and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, said.

"Our country now has every reason to make symmetrical decisions in relation to foreign assets," said Volodin.

Volodin said that of the $280 billion of Russian assets frozen abroad, only $5 to $6 billion was in the United States while about $224 billion was in the European Union.

For our live updates from Sunday, April 21, click here.