Russia-Ukraine war news: Zelensky in Canada to visit Trudeau, give speech to
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Zelensky will spend Friday in Canada, Trudeau’s office said. After addressing Parliament, Trudeau and Zelensky “will then travel to Toronto, where they will meet with Canadian business leaders to strengthen private sector investment in Ukraine’s future.” Canada has provided more than 8.9 billion Canadian dollars, or $6.6 billion, since January 2022, in both direct financial aid and military equipment, according to the office.
The Biden administration announced a $325 million military aid package to Ukraine. This tranche will include air defense systems, munitions and .50-caliber machine guns that can be used against Russian drones that have terrorized Ukrainian cities and towns in recent months.
Unlike his last visit, Zelensky was not granted the opportunity to address a joint session of Congress. But he was granted a large forum of senators to make his case for why U.S. lawmakers should approve the Biden administration’s request for an additional $24 billion aid package. “If we don’t get the aid, we will lose the war,” Zelensky told members of the Senate in a closed-door meeting, according to Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.).
In a private meeting with Zelensky, McCarthy asked how open-ended the war would be and if Kyiv is using U.S.-provided weapons responsibly, The Washington Post reported, citing people familiar with the meeting. McCarthy applauded Zelensky’s recent decisions to replace his defense minister and fire other senior defense officials as part of a broader move aimed at rooting out corruption, and expressed support for providing ATACMS missiles and F-16s to Ukraine.
The United States and Ukraine will create an industrial base to jointly produce weapons such as air defense systems, Zelensky said. Describing the plan as historic, he said it would create new jobs for Americans and Ukrainians, and help deter aggression.
At least one person has been killed in shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, according to a local official. Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram Friday that a 25-year-old man died of his injuries, while another person was wounded.
A ship has left the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Chornomorsk carrying Ukrainian wheat toward Egypt, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said Friday, in the second shipment to leave via a temporary corridor for civilian shipping since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal with Russia in July. The Palau-flagged Aroyat has 17,600 metric tons of wheat on board, Oleksandr Kubrakov tweeted, days after the much smaller Resilient Africa departed with 3,000 tons. Three other vessels are heading to Ukrainian Black Sea ports to transport 127,000 tons of “agroproducts and iron ore” to China, Egypt and Spain, he said in a separate message.
The United States says it has made no decision on whether to supply Ukraine with ATACMS tactical missiles. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said that while the missiles weren’t included in the most recent aid package, Biden had not ruled out providing them in the future. The system has a range of 190 miles, and would give the Ukrainian military the ability to fire deeper inside Russian territory.
Russia and Belarus will start a training exercise Friday, Russian state media reported. The biennial Union Shield 2023 exercise will continue until next Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported.
Poland threatened to stop sending more arms to…
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