US rushes ammo, other war supplies to Ukraine
WASHINGTON/MOSCOW: The United States on Wednesday rushed to send ammunition, weapons and other war supplies to Ukraine, after President Joe Biden signed a much-delayed bill to support the country as it struggles to hold back Russian advances.
The final approval of the legislation — which includes $61 billion for Kyiv out of a total of $95 billion in funding — comes after months of political wrangling as Ukrainian forces ran short of ammunition and suffered battlefield setbacks.
“I just signed into law the national security package that was passed by the House of Representatives this weekend, and by the Senate yesterday,” Biden told reporters, saying he is “making sure the shipments start right away, in the next few hours”.
Minutes after Biden spoke, the Pentagon announced a $1 billion package for Kyiv using the new funding, including air defene munitions, artillery rounds, ammunition for Himars precision rocket launchers, anti-tank weapons and armoured vehicles.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky quickly expressed thanks on social media. “I am grateful to President Biden, Congress, and all Americans who recognize that we must cut the ground under Putin’s feet rather than obeying him, as this is the only way to truly reduce threats to freedom,” he wrote.
Washington has announced new aid for Ukraine on just one other occasion this year, a $300 million package in March that was only made possible by using money that the Pentagon had saved on other purchases.
The State Department confirmed Wednesday that the United States had secretly sent long-range ATACMS missiles to Ukraine as part of the March assistance package, fulfilling a long-standing request from Kyiv. “We did not announce this at the onset in order to maintain operational security for Ukraine at their request,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, adding that the “missiles arrived in Ukraine this month.”
Some Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles can hit targets up to 300 kilometres away, and a defence department spokesperson confirmed that was the long-range variant supplied to Ukraine. The White House said last year that the United States sent a shorterrange variant of ATACMS that can travel 165 kilometres.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the United States plans to send more of the long-range missiles to Ukraine, but warned that “there is no silver bullet”.
The legislation Biden signed Wednesday passed after months of acrimonious debate among lawmakers over how or even whether to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion, which Moscow launched in February 2022.
Ukraine’s access to ATACMS will not impact outcome of the conflict: Kremlin The Kremlin said on Thursday that Ukraine’s access to longrange weapons, including ATACMS provided by the United States, would not fundamentally change the outcome of the conflict, now in its third year.
“The United States is directly involved in this conflict. It is on the road to increasing the range of the weapons systems it already supplies,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “This will not fundamentally change the outcome of the special military operation. We will get our way. But it will cause more problems for Ukraine itself,” Peskov added.
Agence France-Presse
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA: Marine biologists raced on Thursday to save more than 100 pilot whales after a mass stranding on an Australian beach, with officials fearing many will have to be euthanised.
Western Australia’s Parks and Wildlife Service said 26 of the beached pilot whales had already died.
As many as 160 pilot whales became stranded on Thursday morning at Toby’s Inlet, officials said, located about three hours’ drive south of state capital Perth. “A team of experienced staff including wildlife officers, marine scientists, veterinarians are on site or on their way,” the Parks and Wildlife Service said in a statement.
Wildlife officers will try to guide some of the pilot whales away from the beach and into deeper water.
But the service said that
“these events usually result in the beached animals having to be euthanised as the most humane outcome”.
“We always hope for the best outcome,” the wildlife service added.
Mass strandings of pilot whales are not uncommon in Australia and New Zealand.
Around 500 pilot whales died when they beached on New Zealand’s remote Chatham Islands in 2022.
Scientists do not fully understand why mass strandings occur, but some researchers think pods go off track after feeding too close to shore.
Pilot whales — which can grow to more than six metres long — are highly sociable, so they may follow pod-mates who stray into danger.