Bombing hits Kyiv during Guterres’ visit… and Moscow warns the West against “testing our patience”
Washington: Heba Al-Qudsi – New York: Ali Barada – Moscow: Raed Jabr – Brussels: Shawqi Al-Rais
US President Joe Biden asked Congress yesterday to approve an additional $33 billion to support Ukraine, in an unprecedented jump in US funding for the war against Russia. The massive funding request includes more than $20 billion for weapons, ammunition, and other military assistance, in addition to $8.5 billion in direct economic aid to the government, and $3 billion in humanitarian aid and food security.
Western support for Ukraine warns of preparations for a long war, which the Secretary-General of NATO estimated for several months or years.
These developments came after the Kremlin warned that Western arms supplies to Ukraine, including heavy weapons, pose a threat to the security of the European continent and “provoke (risk) of instability.” Less than 24 hours after President Vladimir Putin threatened the West with a “lightning strike” if his country’s interests were endangered, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was being “used” by the West, and asked foreign countries to stop ” Trying to test Russia’s patience.
Meanwhile, Kyiv was bombed yesterday evening while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was visiting. Guterres had toured the Ukrainian capital and a number of nearby towns, examining some of the horrors of the war, which he described as “absurd.”
Guterres also met President Zelensky and Ukrainian officials days after his meeting with the Russian president in Moscow, seeking a humanitarian ceasefire that would allow safe passages to be opened for civilians stranded in a number of cities and regions, while insisting on an investigation into the atrocities that Ukraine accuses Russian soldiers of committing.
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Source: aawsat