Kiev, Ukraine (AP) – U.S. officials have pledged hundreds of millions of dollars in new aid to Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky on a high -level U.S. visit to Ukraine two months before Russia’s invasion begins, as Britain on Monday without Moscow yet. achieved a significant success in its attack on the eastern industrial center of the country.
At a meeting with Zelensky in Kiev, U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. had approved the sale of $ 165 million worth of ammunition for the war in Ukraine, which with more than $ 300 million in foreign military funding.
The promises were made on Sunday, the sixtieth day since the aggression began, when Ukraine forced the West to take on more powerful weapons against the Russian campaign in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, which Moscow forces are trying to drive out the last Ukrainian troops. out of the ruined harbor. Mariupol.
The British Defense Ministry said on Monday that Ukrainian troops trapped in an iron mill in a strategic city were holding on to Russian forces and preventing them from launching an attack on the Donbas.
“Many Russian units remain in the city and it is impossible to deploy them,” the ministry said in a statement posted on Twitter. Ukraine’s defense of Mariupol also depleted many Russian units and reduced their effectiveness in combat.
The ministry added that so far Russia has only made “little progress in some areas after focusing on full conquest of the Donbas”.
“Without adequate logistical and combat support, Russia has not yet reached a significant victory,” the ministry said.
In the diplomatic field, UN Secretary -General Antonio Guterres will travel to Turkey on Monday, then to Moscow and Kiev. Zelensky said Guterres’ visit to Ukraine from Russia was a mistake.
“Because? Receive signals from Russia? What should we look for?” Zelensky said Saturday. “There are no corpses scattered on Kutuzovsky Avenue,” he said on one of Moscow’s main streets.
In support of Ukraine, French President Emmanuel Macron defeated far -right rival Marine Le Pen, who vowed to destroy France’s relationship with the European Union and NATO, for a second term on Sunday. Le Pen also spoke about Russia’s energy against EU sanctions and discussed during the campaign because of its past friendship with the Kremlin.
Macron’s victory in the EU was hailed by France’s allies as an encouraging sign of stability and continued support for Ukraine. France has played a leading role in international efforts to punish Russia with sanctions and provide Ukraine with weapons systems.
“We have a lot to do and the war in Ukraine reminds us that we are going through tragic times when France needs to hear its voice,” Macron said, encouraging people in his victory speech.
Zelensky’s meeting with U.S. officials, his first face -to -face meeting with a U.S. official since meeting with Vice President Kamala Harry in Munich on Feb. 19, took place in both Ukrainian and Russian. Celebrating the resurrection of the Orthodox. Speaking from Kiev’s ancient Hagia Sophia, Zelensky, a Jew, stressed his importance for a country devastated by nearly two months of war.
“This day is a great celebration that gives us great hope and an unwavering faith that light will defeat darkness, good will defeat evil, life will triumph over death, and therefore Ukraine will surely win! he says.
In the northern part of Ukraine, on the part of the Russian border, a fire broke out at an oil depot on Monday morning, but the immediate cause of the fire did not spread to the oil storage tanks.
NASA’s fire -controlling satellites showed several burning coordinates corresponding to the Rosneft facility 110 kilometers (70 miles) north of the Ukrainian border. Moscow has previously blamed Ukraine for Bryansk’s attacks on Russia, which are on Ukraine’s border.
After failing to capture Kiev, the Russians aimed to gain full control over the Donbas. Eastern Industrial Center, where Moscow -backed separatists controlled some territory before the war.
For the attack on the Donbas, Russia gathered troops fighting around Kiev and in northern Ukraine. The British Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces repulsed several attacks last week and “caused extensive damage to Russian forces”.
South of the Donbas, in the strategic port city of Mariupol, a small pocket of Ukrainian troops continues to fight Russian forces at an Azovstal steel plant at an offshore facility.
Mariupol has suffered bitter fighting since the beginning of the war due to its location in the Sea of Azov. Its acquisition would deprive Ukraine of a viable port, free Russian troops to fight elsewhere, and allow Moscow to create a land corridor on the Crimean peninsula, which it seized from Ukraine in 2014.
Over the weekend, Russian forces launched new airstrikes at the steel mill to evacuate about 2,000 fighters inside. About 1,000 civilians also fled the building.
New satellite images from Planet Labs PBC, taken on Sunday, show crumbling buildings along a steel mill and smoke emanating from a part of the facility. The roofs have holes; The football pitch is the crater of the oncoming fire.
An estimated more than 100,000 people in Mariupol – from a pre -war population of about 430,000 – were left with food, water or heat shortages. Ukrainian authorities estimate that more than 20,000 civilians have been killed. Recent satellite images showed what appeared to be mass graves to the west and east of Mariupol.
Children in the underground bunker receive Easter gifts in a video released on Sunday by the far -right Azov battalion, which belongs to Ukrainian forces at the Mariupol steel mill. The group’s deputy leader, Sviatoslav Palamar, said the video was taken at the factory.
A baby can be seen wearing a handmade cellophane diaper while people bathe on temporary hangers.
“Please help us,” a woman said in the video, crying and talking to world leaders. “We want to live in our city, in our country. We are tired of these bombings, of the constant air attacks on our land. How long is it? “
Associated Press reporters Jessica Fish in Slovyansk, Ukraine, Mstislav Chernov and Felipe Dana in Kharkov, Ukraine, Yura Karmanau and John Gambrel in Lviv, Kara Anna, Inna Varenitsia and Oleksandr Stashevsky throughout the week, and AP staff in the whole world.
Source: Huffpost
