Friday’s Coverage: US to Announce $6 Billion Arms Package for Kyiv

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1030 GMT:

Canada is allocating C$3 million ($2,19 million) for Ukrainian production of combat drones.

The Canadian Government said the allocation, the first of its kindduring Russia’s invasion, is in cooperation with the UK.

Ottawa is also delivering another 100 Teledyne FLIR drones, supplementing the 800 already provided.

Another C$10 million is being given to the Czech initiative for the production and procurement of artillery ammunition for Ukraine, adding to the C$40 million announced in March.

UPDATE 0731 GMT:

Ukrainian drones have reportedly attacked the Slovyansk oil refinery and a military airfield in the Krasnodar region in southwest Russia.

Krasnodar Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said more than 10 drones were downed, while the Russian Defense Ministry declared 66 were intercepted.

But Eduard Trudnev, a company director, said the refinery had partially halted operations. Debris was being collected and law enforcement carrying out an investigation.

“There may be hidden damage. It’s too early to talk about assessing the damage,” Trudnev said.

The Slavyansk refinery is among Russia’s five largest, with a capacity of 5.2 million tons per year. It was attacked on March 17, setting a production site on fire. One person died of a heart attack.

UPDATE 0713 GMT:

Russian police have carried out searches at Moscow’s Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, founded by the oligarch Roman Abramovich and his wife Daria Zhukova.

About 15 to 20 officers combed the archival building and a second building where Garage offers walking tours. Thirty to forty musuem staff were held and banned from using their phones. Spix were still kept at the Garage office on Friday afternoon, hours after the police’s arrival.

No reason was given for the operation. It came two days after the indictment of Deputy Defense Minister Timur Ivanov and the detention of his assistant and former Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin on bribery charges.

UPDATE 0655 GMT:

Vladimir Putin has handed over the Russian assets of European appliance manufacturers to a subsidiary of the Russian State energy giant Gazprom.

Putin signed a decree transferring the assets of the Italian company Ariston and Germany’s BSH Hausgerate, with its Bosch, Siemens and NEFF brands, to Gazprom Household Systems JSC.

UPDATE 0643 GMT:

Russia has again targeted energy infrastructure in an overnight missile assault across Ukraine.

Air defenses downed 21 of 34 missiles, but facilities were struck in the Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Lviv regions.

Ukraine’s largest private energy company, DTEK, reported that four of its thermal power plants were significantly damaged.

DTEK is still carrying out repairs from Russia’s attacks in late March — their largest of 2024 — which reduced the company’s thermal capacity by 80%.

In Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine, an S-300 missile struck a psychiatric hospital. A 53-year-old woman was injured.

UPDATE 0630 GMT:

Two civilians were killed and nine injured, including three children and a woman, by Russian airstrikes on northeast Ukraine on Friday.

The children and woman were among those wounded when guided bombs hit Derhachi in the Kharkiv region.

In the Sumy region, two people were killed and five injured as bombs and shells struck an industrial facility and residential areas.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: As Ukraine tries to withstand Russia’s latest offensive and missile and drone attacks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has emphasized the significance of Kyiv’s 26-month resistance.

Zelenskiy told the 50-plus countries of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, during their virtual meeting on Friday, of the necessity of providing essential military aid.

Dear friends, please do not forget what you are deciding. This is not just about the arms supply: you are deciding the fate of the world that will either live by rules that we all recognize or depend only on the mercy of those whose violence is brutal.

He explained, “If our solidarity with you had not worked out and if your reaction to the war had remained only in words, the world would have had to deal with a much more powerful Russia.”

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that Patriot systems will be part of a $6 billion American military aid package, replenishing air defense amid Russia’s most intense aerial attacks of the invasion.

The aid was unlocked this week by Congressional confirmation of $60.8 billion in assistance, overcoming a 6 1/2-month blockade by Trumpists and hard-right Republicans.

See also EA-Times Radio Special: Will US Aid Help Turn Tide in Ukraine v. Russia’s Invasion?

The Pentagon earlier announced a $1 billion package of munitions and ammunition.

Austin said he was conferring with partner countries about sending more air defense systems: “It’s not just Patriots that they need, they need other types of systems and interceptors as well. I would caution us all in terms of making Patriot the silver bullet.”

He urged others to to “accept a little bit more risk”, overcoming concerns that they need the systems for their own security.

On Thursday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said Greece will not send air defense systems, such as US-made Patriots or Russian S-300s: “We were asked [by other European countries] and we explained why we cannot do it….[The systems are] critical to our deterrent capability.”