Tag: military assistance
US Diplomats Returning To Kyiv As Blinken And Austin Pledge $700m In Aid

US Diplomats Returning To Kyiv As Blinken And Austin Pledge $700m In Aid

Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) - United States diplomats will begin a gradual return to Ukraine this week, Washington's secretary of state and defence chief said Monday, as they announced $700 million in military aid during their first war-time visit to Kyiv.

The trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin -- which the United States confirmed only after the two had left Ukrainian territory -- came as the invasion enters its third month, with thousands dead and millions displaced.

Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky met the US officials Sunday, as the port city of Mariupol's defenses were "on the brink of collapse" and Kyiv was in dire need of offensive weapons.

Washington ordered the withdrawal of its diplomats in the weeks prior to Russia's February invasion of Ukraine, but has been a leading donor of financial aid and weaponry to the country, and a key sponsor of sanctions targeting Moscow.

"Since the start of hostilities, we've had a team across the border in Poland who's been handling this work for us," the official told reporters waiting for Blinken and Austin on the Polish side of the border.

"Starting this week, members of that team will be able to do day trips instead into Ukraine," he said.

"Ultimately, (they will) resume presence in Kyiv."

The visiting envoys also pledged another $700 million in military aid to Ukraine, including some $300 million to allow the country to purchase necessary weapons.

The rest of the money will go to Ukraine's regional allies who need to resupply after sending weapons to their neighbour.

The United States has sent some $4 billion in military aid since Biden's term began last year, and already announced Thursday a new $800 million aid package to bolster Ukraine in their fight against Russian troops in the country's east.

But it has been reluctant to intervene militarily, for fear of entering a conflict against nuclear-armed Russia, and officials Monday poured water over claims the visit represented a major escalation of US involvement in Ukraine.

"This visit does not portend actual involvement by US forces," a senior defence official said.

"The president has been very clear there will be no US troops fighting in Ukraine and that includes the skies over Ukraine."

Somber Easter

The highly sensitive trip by two of President Joe Biden's top cabinet members coincided with Easter celebrations in the largely Orthodox country.

As Ukrainians marked a sombre Easter, with many braving bombardment for blessings, Russian forces showed no sign of easing attacks.

Five civilians were killed and another five wounded in Donetsk on Sunday, the besieged eastern region's Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Authorities also reported a death in northeastern Kharkiv.

The day before, a missile strike on the southern city of Odessa left eight dead and at least 18 wounded, according to Zelensky, who said five missiles hit the city.

Russia's defence ministry said it had targeted a major depot stocking foreign weapons near Odessa.

Zelensky accused Russia of being a terrorist state, one that has devastated the port city of Mariupol with weeks of unrelenting bombardment.

And with thousands of its fighters and civilians in Mariupol facing increasingly dire conditions, Kyiv said Sunday it had invited Moscow to talks near the sprawling Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers are still holding out.

"We invited Russians to hold a special round of talks on the spot, right next to the walls of Azovstal," the last Ukrainian stronghold in the strategic port, said Arestovych.

There was no immediate response from Russia. Its president, Vladimir Putin, had ordered his forces not to assault the plant, but the Ukrainians say the attacks continue unabated.

'Very Difficult'

Mariupol, which the Kremlin claims to have "liberated", is pivotal to Russia's war plans to forge a land bridge to Russian-occupied Crimea -- and possibly beyond, as far as Moldova.

On Sunday, the United Nations' Ukraine crisis coordinator Amin Awad called for an "immediate stop" to fighting in the city to allow trapped civilians to leave.

"The lives of tens of thousands, including women, children and older people, are at stake in Mariupol," Awad said in a statement after the latest attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol failed.

"We need a pause in fighting right now to save lives."

In a message posted on social media Sunday, Sviatoslav Palamar -- deputy commander of the far-right Azov Regiment, which is sheltering in a warren of tunnels under the steel plant -- said Russian forces continued to rain down fire on Azovstal.

"The enemy continues air strikes, artillery from the sea... enemy tanks continue to strike and infantry is trying to storm," said Palamar.

Ukrainian commander Sergey Volyna described the situation in the complex as "very difficult" and reiterated calls for the international community to help those remaining escape.

"We will not have time to wait for a military solution to the situation, the situation is very critical. Very heated. I don't know how much time we have," he said in an interview.


Record U.S. Military Aid Deal For Israel To Be Signed On Wednesday

Record U.S. Military Aid Deal For Israel To Be Signed On Wednesday

WASHINGTON/JERUSALEM, Sept 13 (Reuters) – The United States and Israel have reached final agreement on a record new package of at least $38 billion in U.S. military aid and the 10-year pact is expected to be signed within days, sources close to the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.

The deal will represent the biggest pledge of U.S. military assistance ever made to any country but also includes major concessions granted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials on both sides. (Reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Luke Baker; Editing by Jeffrey Heller and Mark Trevelyan)

Photo: The deal will represent the biggest pledge of U.S. military assistance ever made to any country but also includes major concessions granted by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to officials on both sides.
Iraq Wins Pledge Of Military Support Against IS Militants

Iraq Wins Pledge Of Military Support Against IS Militants

Paris (AFP) — The world’s top diplomats pledged Monday to support Iraq in its fight against Islamic State militants by “any means necessary”, including “appropriate military assistance”, as leaders stressed the urgency of the crisis.

Representatives from around 30 countries and international organisations, including the United States, Russia and China, gathered in Paris as the brutal beheading over the weekend of a third Western hostage focussed participants’ minds.

The pledge came as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry stepped up efforts to forge a broad anti-jihadist coalition.

In a joint statement issued after the talks, diplomats vowed to support Baghdad “by any means necessary, including appropriate military assistance, in line with the needs expressed by the Iraqi authorities, in accordance with international law and without jeopardising civilian security.”

They stressed IS extremists were “a threat not only to Iraq but also to the entire international community” and underscored the “urgent need” to remove them from Iraq, where they control some 40 percent of its territory.

However, the final statement made no mention of Syria, where the extremists hold a quarter of the country and where the regime of Bashar al-Assad still had friends around the Paris conference table, including Russia.

Opening the conference, French President Francois Hollande emphasised there was “no time to lose” in the fight against the jihadists.

“The fight of the Iraqis against terrorism is our fight as well,” Hollande stressed, urging “clear, loyal and strong” global support for Baghdad.

– All bases covered –

Iraqi President Fuad Masum also stressed the urgency of the crisis, saying there was a risk the militants could overrun more countries in the region.

“We are still asking for regular aerial operations against terrorist sites. We have to pursue them wherever they are. We need to dry up their sources of finance,” added the Iraqi leader.

The international community is scrambling to contain the IS jihadists — who have rampaged across Iraq and Syria and could number as many as 31,500 fighters, according to the CIA.

As if to underscore the urgency of the campaign, France’s defence minister announced just hours ahead of the conference it was joining Britain in carrying out reconnaissance flights in support of the U.S. air campaign against the jihadists.

Shortly afterwards, two French Rafale fighter jets took off from the Al-Dhafra base in the United Arab Emirates, an AFP correspondent reported.

The Paris conference was one of a series of diplomatic gatherings in the run-up to a United Nations General Assembly later this week.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said meetings would come “thick and fast” in the coming days and his French counterpart Laurent Fabius said there would soon be a conference on Islamic State funding organised by Bahrain.

Kerry has been criss-crossing the region in a bid to build as broad a coalition as possible and said over the weekend that “all bases were covered” in terms of implementing U.S. President Barack Obama’s strategy to destroy the jihadists.

Obama’s plan includes air strikes in Syria and expanded operations in Iraq, where U.S. aircraft have carried out more than 160 strikes since early August.

The U.S. leader also foresees training “moderate” Syrian rebels to take on IS and to reconstitute the Iraqi army, parts of which fled an IS blitzkrieg across northern and western Iraq.

While there was no mention of Syria in the final statement, Hollande said the international community “needs to find a durable solution in the place where the (IS) movement was born. In Syria.”

“The chaos is benefiting the terrorists. We therefore need to support those who can negotiate and make the required compromises to secure the future of Syria,” said Hollande.

“They are the forces of the democratic opposition. They need to be backed by all means,” added the president.

– ‘Dirty hands’ –

The coalition received a boost when Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pledged to deploy 600 troops to the United Arab Emirates, a regional Washington ally.

Ten Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, are among the countries backing the coalition.

Speaking in Paris, a U.S. official said the number of countries signing on was “going up almost every hour”, from Europe and the Middle East right across to Japan, South Korea and New Zealand.

However, Iran, which was not invited to the conference, said it had rejected U.S. overtures to help in the fight against the militants.

“Right from the start, the United States asked through its ambassador in Iraq whether we could cooperate,” supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on his official website.

“I said no, because they have dirty hands,” said Khamenei, who has the final say on all matters of state in Iran.

He accused Washington of seeking a “pretext to do in Iraq and Syria what it already does in Pakistan — bomb anywhere without authorisation.”

The United States insisted Monday that it was opposed to military cooperation with Iran, but was open to further talks.

The gruesome beheading of British aid worker David Haines increased the urgency of the Paris talks.

Haines was the third Western hostage to be beheaded by the militants in less than a month. IS released a video Saturday showing his killing and issued a death threat against another British captive, Alan Henning.

AFP Photo/Ali al-Saadi

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