Live blog: Biden asks US Congress for $24 billion in Ukraine defence aid

Thursday, August 10, 2023

1909 GMT — US President Joe Biden asked Congress to approve about $40 billion in additional spending, including $24 billion for Ukraine and other international needs.

But the request could face opposition in Congress, where some Republicans — especially those with close ties to former president Donald Trump — want to pare back the billions in assistance Washington has sent to Kiev since Russian troops attacked in February 2022.

Trump, the front runner in the race to be the Republican presidential nominee in 2024, has been sharply critical of US support for Ukraine in the conflict. And 70 House members backed an unsuccessful proposal in July to cut funding for Ukraine.

The House and Senate last approved aid for the Kiev government — $48 billion — in December, before Republicans took control of the House.

More updates 👇

2013 GMT — Ukraine: Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia kills one, wounds several

A Russian strike on a civilian building killed at least one person and wounded 14 in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials have said.

"A fire broke out in a civilian building after the occupiers hit it with a missile. One person is currently reported dead," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

The head of the city's military administration, Anatoli Kurtiev, added that 14 people had been wounded in the strike, up from five initially reported. At least four buildings were damaged, Kurtiev said.

Among the injured were a three-year-old girl and a 14-year-old boy, he said.

Russia's push on eastern front prompts Ukrainian civilians to evacuate

Ukrainian authorities have ordered a mandatory evacuation of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages in the eastern Kharkiv region, where Russian forces reportedly are making a concerted effort to punch through the front line.

The local military administration in Kharkiv's Kupiansk district said residents must comply with the evacuation order or sign a document saying they would stay at their own risk.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar had said the previous day that “the intensity of combat and enemy shelling is high” in the area.

The city of Kupiansk and the territories around it were under Russian offensive until September 2022, when Ukrainian forces conducted a rapid offensive operation that dislodged the Kremlin’s forces from nearly the entire Kharkiv region.

The retaking of those areas strengthened Ukraine’s arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries, which its Western allies duly provided.

But as Ukraine has pursued a slow-moving counteroffensive in recent weeks, Russian forces have struck back in some areas.

Maliar said Russia “has formed an offensive group and is attempting to move forward” in the area in an effort to advance on the Ukrainian-held city of Kupiansk, an important rail junction.

1244 GMT — Russian football club says Norwegian player leaves after drone attack

Russian football club Dynamo Moscow said Norwegian midfielder Mathias Normann terminated his contract with the team and left Russia after a drone strike on buildings near the neighborhood where he lived.

Normann was one of the few players from western Europe to play for a Russian club after the country's military offensive on Ukraine started in February last year, a decision that saw him exiled from Norway's national team.

Normann was contracted to Rostov when Russia started the offensive but was then on loan to Norwich in the English Premier League. He later returned to Russia to join Dynamo on loan.

FIFA passed interim rules after the war began allowing players from abroad who were then with clubs in those countries to suspend their contracts.

Dynamo chief executive Pavel Pivovarov told Sport Express in comments reported late Wednesday that Normann cited security reasons for terminating his contracts with the club and Rostov.

The clubs will consider legal action, he said.

1115 GMT - Russia says it intercepted Moscow-bound drones

Russian air defense systems shot down two drones heading toward Moscow for a second straight day, officials said.

The reported attack disrupted flights at two international airports as Ukraine appeared to step up its assault on Russian soil.

One drone was downed in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow and another near a major Moscow ring road, according to Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin and the Russian Defence Ministry, which blamed the attack on Ukraine.

No casualties or damage were immediately reported.

Domodedovo airport, south of the city, halted flights for more than two hours and Vnukovo airport, southwest of the city, stopped flights for more than two and a half hours, according to Russian news agencies.

Ten flights were diverted, Russia’s Federal Agency for Air Transport said.

Firing drones at Moscow after more than 17 months of war has little apparent military value for Ukraine, but the strategy has served to unsettle Russians and bring home to them the conflict’s consequences.

Kiev officials, as usual, neither confirmed nor denied Ukraine’s possible involvement in the drone strikes, though Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat remarked: “This cannot but please us because people in Moscow thought they were safe".

1050 GMT - At least 12 still missing as debris cleared after Russian warehouse blast

Twelve people were still missing after a huge explosion tore through a warehouse in the Russian city of Sergiyev Posad, officials said.

"There are 12 missing persons reported," the city's administration said in a post on social media.

Officials in the city, which lies 35 miles (56 kilometres) northeast of Moscow, said search and rescue efforts were ongoing.

Rescue workers could be seen sawing through the ruins of a collapsed building overnight, while firefighters sprayed water on the smouldering wreckage.

The cause of the incident was not immediately clear.

Investigators said they had detained the technical director of a pyrotechnics company and opened a criminal case into violations of industrial safety.

0918 GMT - Poland agrees to keep Patriot systems near border with Ukraine

Poland accepted a German proposal to keep the Patriot anti-aircraft systems near its border with war-torn Ukraine through at least the end of 2023.

The Polish Patriot batteries will be integrated with Poland's air and missile defence system, Mariusz Blaszczak told a Polish radio programme, according to the state-run PAP news agency.

0916 GMT - Ukraine: Zaporizhzhia plant loses connection to main power line

Ukraine's Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant again lost connection to its last remaining main external power line overnight and was switched to a reserve line, state-owned power generating company Energoatom said.

Energoatom said Europe's largest nuclear power plant was on the verge of a blackout as the reserve line had less than half the power capacity of the main power line.

"Such a regime is difficult for the reactor plant, its duration is limited by the project's design and it can result in failure of the main equipment of the energy unit," Energoatom said on Telegram.

0909 GMT - Poland plans to deploy 10,000 troops to its border with Belarus

Poland's defence minister said that the country intends to put 10,000 soldiers along its border with Belarus. The statement comes as Warsaw worries about the presence of Russian-linked mercenaries in Belarus and migrants trying to cross the border.

Meanwhile, the Polish military announced that it was carrying out a search in the area near the border with Belarus for fuse lost from a missile, but said it poses no threat because "the detonator has built-in protections." It said the fuse was lost during "intensive activities using specialised equipment to ensure security."

"On Tuesday, after the end of combat flights, one of the helicopters carrying out a patrol in the border area was found to have no fuse in one of the missiles. The flight was carried out along the border strip and did not take place over built-up areas," the military said in a statement.

0820 GMT - At least nine missing after Russian warehouse blast

Nine people were still missing after a huge explosion tore through a warehouse in the Russian city of Sergiyev Posad, investigators said.

At least one person died in Wednesday's blast, which officials said began in a warehouse used to store pyrotechnics in the city north of Moscow.

"More than 60 people have sought medical help, nine are missing," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a social media post.

0640 GMT - Russia says it thwarted Ukrainian drone attacks

Russia said it thwarted drone attacks conducted by Ukraine on the Moscow and Kaluga regions, as well as Crimea, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

"Tonight, over the territory of the Kaluga and Moscow regions, as well as the city of Sevastopol, attempts by the Kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks by unmanned aerial vehicles were thwarted," said a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry.

Two drones flying toward the capital Moscow were destroyed by Russian air defence systems over Kaluga’s Maloyaroslavetsky district and Moscow's Odintsovsky district, the statement added.

It added that no casualties or damages were reported. Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the attack.

0052 GMT - Russia's emergency service reports fire near airport

Russia's emergency service has said that an auto repair shop caught fire in Domodedovo outside Moscow near one of the major Russian airports, RIA news agency reported.

"The size of the fire is 1,000 square metres," RIA quoted the statement.

It gave the address of the repair shop, which is 10 kilometres away from the Domodedovo airport.

Videos of the fire posted online show thick black smoke and a flame, seen from hundreds of metres away.

Two explosions were heard before the fire, according to posts on Russian social media.

On Wednesday, Russia said it shot down two Ukrainian drones near Moscow, one of them over Domodedovo.

0100 GMT - Russia downs drones flying towards Moscow, says mayor

Russia's air defence systems shot down two military drones heading towards Moscow on Thursday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said.

Air defence systems shot down two combat drones flying toward the city, Sobyanin said on his official channel Telegram.

Sobyanin said the drones were shot down around 4 a.m. Moscow time, one of them near the town of Kaluga, and the second over the Central Ring Highway surrounding the Russian capital.

0001 GMT - US to send $200 million in military aid to Ukraine

The Pentagon will provide Ukraine with $200 million in weapons and ammunition to help sustain Kiev’s counteroffensive as troops on the front lines face significant hurdles against a well-entrenched Russian defence, according to two US officials.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the aid has not yet been publicly announced.

This latest package will include missiles for the High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and the Patriot air defence system, munitions for howitzers and tanks, Javelin rockets, mine-clearing equipment, 12 million rounds of small arms ammunition and demolition munitions, said a US official.

The aid comes as the US funding for Ukraine is nearly all spent, and the Biden administration is expected to request a new package of supplemental aid from Congress to continue that support.

For our live updates from Wednesday (August 9), click here.