➡️Breaking: Russia And Ukraine At War, Zelenskiy Begs For Us Senate's Help!!!

⏰Breaking: Zelenskiy Hails Us Senate Vote On Ukraine AId

LIVE – Updated at 16:00

Ukrainian president says bill envisaging $61bn in aid brings a ‘just peace’ closer, but it still faces opposition in the Senate.

Closing summary

The US permanent representative to NATO has branded Donald Trump’s suggestion that the US would not protect its allies from Russian invasion as “dangerous and irresponsible”. In scripted, but unusually frank remarks, Julianne Smith told reporters his recent remarks put military personnel in danger.

Russia is preparing for a military confrontation with the West within the next decade and could be deterred by a counter build-up of armed forces, Estonia’s Foreign Intelligence Service said. A growing number of Western officials have warned of a military threat from Russia to countries along the eastern flank of Nato, calling for Europe to get prepared by rearming, Reuters reported.

Moscow has put the Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and other Baltic states officials on a wanted list, as Tallinn warns of an imminent Russian military buildup along its border. The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said the Estonian state secretary, Taimar Peterkop; the Lithuanian culture minister, Simonas Kairys, and Kallas were accused of “destroying monuments to Soviet soldiers”, a reference to the removal of Soviet-era second world war memorials.

Estonia’s prime minister Kaja Kallas said on Tuesday she would not be silenced and continue her strong support to Ukraine after Russian police put her on a wanted list. She said: “I will continue my strong support to Ukraine. I will continue to stand for increasing Europe’s defence.”
The Democratic-led US Senate has voted to pass a $95.34bn aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The bill appears to face long odds of getting to the floor in the House, where the Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, criticised it for lacking conservative provisions to stem a record flow of migrants across the US-Mexico border.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed the US Senate vote to support a bill envisaging $61 billion in aid for Ukraine. “American assistance brings just peace in Ukraine closer and restores global stability, resulting in increased security and prosperity for all Americans and all the free world,” he said on X.
US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday said he was confident a $95 billion bill providing assistance to Ukraine, Israel and other allies would pass the House of Representatives with support from both Republicans and Democrats if there were a vote. Speaking hours after the Senate backed the bill in a pre-dawn vote, he called on House leaders to do the right thing and allow a vote.
Russia attacked the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro with missiles and drones on Tuesday, damaging a power plant and cutting off water supplies to some residents, Ukrainian officials and media said. The city of just under one million people came under attack from a missile and four groups of drones approaching from the south, east and north, Ukraine Air Force said on the Telegram messaging app, Reuters reported.
Russian forces are buying Starlink satellite internet terminals in “Arab countries” for use on the battlefield, Ukraine’s military spy agency has said. The Elon Musk-owned service has been vital to Kyiv’s battlefield communications, but Ukrainian officials have said Russian forces are also increasingly relying on it during their nearly two-year-old invasion, Reuters reported.
Russia has lost more than 3,000 tanks during its invasion of Ukraine – the equivalent of its entire pre-war active inventory – but has enough lower-quality armoured vehicles in storage for years of replacements, a leading research centre said. Ukraine has also suffered heavy loses since the invasion began in February 2022 but Western military replenishments have allowed it to maintain inventories while upgrading quality, the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in its annual Military Balance report, Reuters reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed European warnings about “Russian propaganda”, saying that anything which countered the mainstream narrative was now labelled as propaganda by the West. Peskov was asked about a Monday meeting between the foreign ministers of France, Germany and Poland at which they warned of a spike in Russian propaganda in European countries ahead of June’s elections to the European Parliament.
Russia’s response to the West’s seizure of its assets will be “tough,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday, state news agency TASS reported. “The attitude to the West will be like to thieves,” Zakharova said.