Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine
Biden announces new military aid package for Ukraine
U.S. President Joe Biden announces additional military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as well as fresh sanctions against Russia, during a speech in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, April 28, 2022.
Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters
President Joe Biden announced a new U.S. military assistance package for Ukraine as its tries to fight off a sustained Russian invasion.
The aid tranche will be the ninth the Biden administration has sent to Ukraine since Moscow invaded its neighbor in late February.
The White House did not specify a dollar amount for the package.
— Amanda Macias
Zelenskyy set to virtually attend G-7 meeting on Sunday
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy addresses South Korean parliament via video link, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine April 11, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will attend a virtual G-7 group of nations meeting on Sunday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters traveling on Air Force One.
Psaki said the meeting will be chaired by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and that the leaders are expected to discuss the latest developments in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
She said the leaders will also discuss additional ways to show “support for Ukraine and Ukraine’s future and demonstrating continued G-7 unity in our collective response, including building on our unprecedented sanctions to impose severe costs for Putin’s war.”
Psaki declined to elaborate on additional sanctions measures when pressed by reporters.
— Amanda Macias
European Union ‘very much worried’ that Russia could invade Moldova
A man holds his child as families, who fled Ukraine due to the Russian invasion, wait to enter a refugee camp in the Moldovan capital Chisinau on March 3, 2022.
Nikolay Doychinov | Afp | Getty Images
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief has voiced worry that Russia might expand its war in Ukraine to include Moldova, a small nation that borders southern Ukraine.
Josep Borrell, the top EU diplomat, was asked at a forum in Florence, Italy, if the European Union was concerned about what could happen to Moldova.
“Yes, we’re very much worried about what can happen,” Borrell said. “The temptation to expand the war and affect Moldova is a possibility,” Borrell said.
He cited recent explosions in the country as well as the presence of Russian troops. Last month, two explosions in a radio facility close to the border with Ukraine knocked out of service a pair of powerful broadcast antennas in Moldova’s separatist region of Transnistria, according to local police.
Transnistria is a narrow strip of land that has been under the control of separatist authorities since a 1992 war with Moldova. Russia bases some 1,500 troops in the breakaway region, describing them as peacekeepers.
— Associated Press
Nearly 25 million tons of grain stuck in Ukraine, UN food agency says
Nearly 25 million tons of grains are stuck in Ukraine and unable to leave the country due to infrastructure challenges and blocked Black Sea ports including Mariupol, a U.N. food agency official said.
The blockages are seen…
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