US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday said that US military aid on its way to Ukraine would make a “real difference” on the battlefield, as the top diplomat made an unannounced visit to reassure an ally facing a fierce new Russian offensive.
In increasingly intense attacks along the northeastern border in recent days, Moscow’s troops have captured about 100 to 125km2 of territory that includes at least seven villages, open source monitoring analysts said. Although most of those villages were already depopulated, thousands of civilians in the area have fled the fighting.
Analysts have called this moment one of the most dangerous for Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 — and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy yesterday asked for more air defense systems, including two Patriot air defense systems, to protect civilians under Russian fire in the northeast.
Photo: AFP
“We know this is a challenging time,” Blinken said in the Ukrainian capital, where he met with Zelenskiy, but added that US military aid is “going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield.”
The visit comes less than a month after the US Congress approved a long-delayed foreign assistance package that sets aside US$60 billion in aid for Ukraine, much of which would go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense systems.
Some of that “is now on the way,” Blinken said, and some has already arrived in Ukraine.
Moscow’s renewed offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv is the most significant border incursion since the early days of the war — and comes after months when the roughly 1,000km front line barely budged.
More than 7,500 civilians have been evacuated from the area, authorities said.
Russian forces are also expanding their push to the northern border regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, and Kyiv’s outgunned and outnumbered soldiers are struggling to hold them back, Ukrainian officials said.
Artillery, air defense interceptors and long-range ballistic missiles have already been delivered, some of them already to the front lines, said a senior US official traveling with Blinken on an overnight train from Poland who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would severely threaten the national security of the US, Japan, the Philippines and other nations, while global economic losses could reach US$10 trillion, National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Lin Fei-fan (林飛帆) wrote in an article published yesterday in Foreign Affairs. “The future of Taiwan is not merely a regional concern; it is a test of whether the international order can withstand the pressure of authoritarian expansionism,” Lin wrote in the article titled “Taiwan’s Plan for Peace Through Strength — How Investments in Resilience Can Deter Beijing.” Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) intent to take Taiwan by force
RSS