HIROSHIMA (Dispatches) – U.S. President Joe Biden announced a new $375 million package of military aid to Ukraine on Sunday and told President Vladimir Zelensky that the United States was doing all it could to strengthen Ukraine amid the war with Russia.
Meeting with the Ukrainian leader on the sidelines of the G7 summit of world leaders in Hiroshima, Japan, Biden said the military aid package included ammunition, artillery, armored vehicles and training.
“Together with the entire G7, we have Ukraine’s back and I promise we’re not going anywhere,” Biden told Zelensky.
In the meeting, Biden stressed his country’s readiness to help build Ukraine’s long-term capacity to defend against and deter Russian aggression, the White House said.
To that end, Biden discussed U.S. support for a joint effort with allied and partner nations to train Ukrainian pilots on fourth-generation fighter aircraft such as the F-16, it said.
The U.S. and its Western allies have kept feeding Ukraine with massive amounts of arms since the start of the Ukrainian conflict last year, which according to Russia is the sole reason that the conflict is not coming to an end.
Russia has repeatedly warned the Western governments such as the U.S. and UK against arming Ukraine and fanning the flames of war.
Apart from sending lethal armaments, the Western countries have supported Ukraine by imposing a raft of sanctions against Russia.
As for the latest developments on the ground, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday congratulated the Wagner forces and the Russian army for the “liberation” of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut, which Russia calls by its Soviet-era name of Artyomovsk.
In a statement published on the Kremlin website, Putin said that the battle - the longest and bloodiest of the 15-month war - had ended in a Russian victory, and that all those who had excelled in it on Moscow’s side would be given state awards.
“The Head of State congratulated Wagner’s assault groups, as well as all members of the units of the Russian Armed Forces who provided them with the necessary support and cover on their flanks, on the completion of the operation to liberate Artyomovsk (Bakhmut),” the statement said.
“All those who distinguished themselves will be presented with state awards,” it said.
Ukraine, however, said on Sunday that it was still fighting for control of Bakhmut, after Zelensky had said earlier that the city remained “only in our hearts.”