Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy ‘grateful’ to Biden for support as Moscow criticises US president for ‘smart investment’ comment | Ukraine
Zelenskiy grateful to Biden for his ‘strong signal of support’
Helen Livingstone
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is grateful to Joe Biden for his “strong signal of support”, after speaking to the US president shortly before he gave a rare Oval Office address in which he asked Americans to back further military aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
Zelenskiy said he had discussed a “significant support package for our country” in his telephone call with Biden, who said in his speech that he would send an urgent budget request to Congress on Friday to fund support for Kyiv and Israel.
“It’s a smart investment that is going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said.
Moscow immediately hit back, saying Biden’s comments betrayed a cynical attitude to the war in Ukraine. “They used to call it ‘fighting for freedom and democracy’,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood.”
“Wars have traditionally been ‘smart investments’ for the United States as they did not take place on the American soil and they do not care about costs borne by others,” Zakharova added.
In other developments:
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Ukraine’s parliament has voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church’s insistence that it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.
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A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday.
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North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wants to build a “forward-looking” relationship with Russia as he met with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, state media reported. The veteran envoy’s two-day visit is expected to lay the groundwork for a trip to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was invited by Kim last month at a high-profile summit in Russia’s far east.
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Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.
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Kazakhstan has banned exports to Russia of 106 goods that could be used in the Ukraine war after the ex-Soviet state vowed not to help its ally circumvent western sanctions, local media said Thursday. On a visit to Berlin last month, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country will “follow the sanctions regime”, amid suspicions Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Kazakhstan.
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The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future. “We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans,” Scholz told lawmakers, while adding “that this cannot all be solved with additional funds”.
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Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence. Finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”.
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Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement.
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Finland’s Ministry of Defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory.
Key events
President Vladimir Putin visited the headquarters of Russian forces in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don late on Thursday to hear a report on the progress of operations in Ukraine, state television reported on Friday.
Reuters reports:
It showed General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the general staff and commander of the war in Ukraine, telling Putin that the troops are “carrying out their tasks in line with the operation plan”.
Putin said this week that the counteroffensive by the Ukrainian forces had “completely failed” and Ukraine’s western backers were less hawkish than before.
Senior Ukrainian military officials said on Thursday their troops were facing a new Russian onslaught in the largely destroyed eastern city of Avdiivka, while making some progress on their counteroffensive in the south.
The Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval on Thursday to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kyiv accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year’s invasion.
The UOC, which says it no longer aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, denies the charges levelled at it by Kyiv and said the draft law would be unconstitutional.
Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the bill in its first reading. It has to be backed in a second reading and approved by the president to go in to force.
The law would ban the activities of religious organisations affiliated with centres of influence “in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine”, and such activities could be terminated by a court of law.
You can read the full report here:
Reuters reports that Russian prosecutors will ask a judge at a court hearing on Friday to place detained Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist Alsu Kurmasheva in custody, the court’s press service said.
Alsu Kurmasheva, who works for RFE/RL’s Tatar-Bashkir Service and holds U.S. and Russian passports, is accused of failing to register as a foreign agent after she entered Russia on 20 May, her employer said on Thursday.
Reuters reports that the US President Joe Biden’s comment in which he called support for Ukraine and Israel an “investment” shows that Washington benefits from proxy wars rather than fights for ideas, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman said on Friday.
Reuters reports:
Biden said on Thursday that helping the two U.S. allies was “a smart investment that’s going to pay dividends for American security for generations”, as he sought to rally support for new aid packages.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Telegram messaging app that Biden’s comments betray a cynical approach.
“They used to call it ‘fighting for freedom and democracy’,” she said. “Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood.”
“Nothing personal, just business,” she said, using a comment made famous in the “Godfather” movie to sum up what she said was the true U.S. stance on conflicts abroad.
“Wars have traditionally been ‘smart investments’ for the United States as they did not take place on the American soil and they do not care about costs borne by others,” Zakharova said.
Zelenskiy grateful to Biden for his ‘strong signal of support’
Helen Livingstone
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is grateful to Joe Biden for his “strong signal of support”, after speaking to the US president shortly before he gave a rare Oval Office address in which he asked Americans to back further military aid to both Ukraine and Israel.
Zelenskiy said he had discussed a “significant support package for our country” in his telephone call with Biden, who said in his speech that he would send an urgent budget request to Congress on Friday to fund support for Kyiv and Israel.
“It’s a smart investment that is going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said.
Moscow immediately hit back, saying Biden’s comments betrayed a cynical attitude to the war in Ukraine. “They used to call it ‘fighting for freedom and democracy’,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood.”
“Wars have traditionally been ‘smart investments’ for the United States as they did not take place on the American soil and they do not care about costs borne by others,” Zakharova added.
In other developments:
-
Ukraine’s parliament has voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church’s insistence that it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.
-
A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday.
-
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wants to build a “forward-looking” relationship with Russia as he met with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, state media reported. The veteran envoy’s two-day visit is expected to lay the groundwork for a trip to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was invited by Kim last month at a high-profile summit in Russia’s far east.
-
Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.
-
Kazakhstan has banned exports to Russia of 106 goods that could be used in the Ukraine war after the ex-Soviet state vowed not to help its ally circumvent western sanctions, local media said Thursday. On a visit to Berlin last month, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country will “follow the sanctions regime”, amid suspicions Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Kazakhstan.
-
The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future. “We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans,” Scholz told lawmakers, while adding “that this cannot all be solved with additional funds”.
-
Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence. Finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”.
-
Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement.
-
Finland’s Ministry of Defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory.
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