Russia-Ukraine war: US package takes Ukraine military aid to $3.8bn; UN statement omits words ‘war’ and ‘invasion’ – live

The Group of Seven (G7) leaders including US President Joe Biden will hold a video call on Sunday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a show of unity the day before Russia marks its Victory Day holiday, the White House said.

Talks will focus on the latest developments in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, efforts to bolster the country and ways to demonstrate “continued G7 unity in our collective response, including by imposing severe costs for Putin’s war,” a spokesperson for the White House’s National Security Council said on Monday.

The leaders of the G7 countries, which include the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy, will hold their virtual meeting with Zelenskiy on Sunday in the US morning, the spokesperson added.

Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One as Biden flew to Ohio for the day, Psaki said the timing of the session was significant because it will take place a day before Putin participates in Victory Day. The holiday on Monday marks the end of World War Two and includes military parades across Russia.

Psaki also said US officials are discussing imposing more sanctions on Russian oligarchs and companies as well as taking steps to avoid Russians previously sanctioned from evading them.

“I’ll be speaking with the members of the G7 this week about what we’re going to do or not do,” Biden told reporters this week.

The UN Security Council earlier issued its first statement on the war in Ukraine, but withheld from using the words “war”, “conflict” or “invasion”.

The statement instead “expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine” and voiced “strong support” for Secretary General Antonio Guterres in seeking a peaceful solution to the “dispute”.

“The Security Council expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine,” it reads.

“The Security Council recalls that all Member States have undertaken, under the Charter of the United Nations, the obligation to settle their international disputes by peaceful means.”

“The Security Council expresses strong support for the efforts of the Secretary-General in the search for a peaceful solution.

Wielding veto power in the council, Russia has stymied all prior bids to adopt a statement on Ukraine.

Mexico’s UN ambassador, whose country helped draft the statement, was asked about criticism that it took two months to draft and merely supports the UN secretary general.

Juan Ramon De La Fuente told the Associated Press there has to be a start somewhere and is “a very first initial step but it points on the right direction”.

The latest US military aid package to Ukraine, announced by president Joe Biden on Friday, is worth $150m, secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed.

I have authorised $150 million in additional US arms, equipment, and supplies for Ukraine to reinforce its defences to counter Russia’s offensive in the East,” Blinken said.

The latest tranche of assistance includes 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, as well as counter-artillery radars, jamming equipment, field equipment and spare parts.

I am announcing another package of security assistance that will provide additional artillery munitions, radars, and other equipment to Ukraine,” Biden said in a statement.

“US support, together with the contributions of our Allies and partners, has been critical in helping Ukraine win the battle of Kyiv and hinder Putin’s war aims in Ukraine,” he added.

With the latest $150m US security aid package to Ukraine, Washington’s military assistance to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began has reached around $3.8bn, Blinken said.

Howitzer systems provided by the US have required training for Ukrainian soldiers, with about 220 servicemen having received training and 150 more currently being trained, Kirby added.

Hello, I’m Samantha Lock bringing you all the latest updates in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Here are some of the key developments in the past few hours:

• The UN Security Council has issued its first statement on the war in Ukraine, but withheld from using the words “war”, “conflict” or “invasion”. The statement instead “expresses deep concern regarding the maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine” and voiced “strong support” for secretary general Antonio Guterres in seeking a peaceful solution to the “dispute”.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the southern port city of Mariupol is “an example of torture and starvation used as a weapon of war”. In an address to Chatham House, he said he was “elected as president of Ukraine and not a mini-Ukraine”, and that Russia must first fall back to the territory it held before its invasion on 23 February if peace talks are to succeed. He also accused Russia of “outright nuclear blackmail” during the speech.

• The latest US military aid package to Ukraine, announced by president Joe Biden on Friday, is worth $150m, secretary of state Antony Blinken confirmed. The latest tranche of assistance includes 25,000 155mm artillery rounds, as well as counter-artillery radars, jamming equipment, field equipment and spare parts. It brings Washington’s military assistance to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began to around $3.8bn, Blinken said.

• Evacuation operations are continuing from the besieged southern city of Mariupol with 40 civilians rescued on Friday, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed in his latest national address.

• Three evacuation buses left the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol on Friday, according to Russian media reports. Buses carrying 25 civilians including children were brought out from the plant to a camp in the Russian-controlled town of Bezimenne. An estimated 200 civilians, along with Ukrainian resistance fighters, remained trapped in underground refuges at the huge industrial complex.

• 41 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians captured by Russia, among them 11 women and a cleric, have been freed in a new prisoner exchange, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said in a statement on Telegram Friday.

• The UK government has said it will give Ukraine 287 mobile generators in addition to 569 generators it had donated earlier.

• US officials have said they shared information about the location of the Russian warship Moskva with Ukraine prior to its sinking last month, a fresh demonstration of the close intelligence support Kyiv is receiving from Washington. However, Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby deflected questions about whether the US provided information to Ukraine that helped military leaders target Russian generals, instead saying Ukraine “makes the decisions” when it comes to how they use US intel.

• Russia’s foreign ministry said it had summoned Britain’s ambassador to Russia, Deborah Bronnert, adding that it strongly protested in relation to new UK sanctions on Russian media. Russia would continue to react “harshly and decisively” to all sanctions imposed by the UK, the ministry said in a statement.

• Italian officials have seized a yacht with ties to the Russian government and believed to belong to Russian president Vladimir Putin, according to a release from the Ministry of Economy and Finance on Friday.