Mediaboss Marketing

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of Britain visited Kyiv on Friday to announce that he would send more than $3 billion in military assistance to Ukraine in the next financial year, his countrys largest annual commitment since the start of Russias full-scale invasion.

In addition to the new aid package, Mr. Sunak and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine signed a bilateral security agreement for the next 10 years. The pact offers reassurance amid concerns about a potential shortfall in Western support for Ukraine while badly needed military and financial aid packages remain blocked in the United States and the European Union because of political infighting.

For two years, Ukraine has fought with great courage to repel a brutal Russian invasion. They are still fighting, unfaltering in their determination to defend their country, Mr. Sunak said in a statement. I am here today with one message: The U.K. will also not falter. We will stand with Ukraine, in their darkest hours and in the better times to come.

The British aid for the coming year represents an increase of 200 million pounds, about $255 million, compared with the countrys annual commitment for the past two years. Much of the increase will go toward the production and procurement of thousands of military drones that are crucial for Ukraine. Britain will also deliver long-range missiles, air defenses and artillery ammunition.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in .

Want all of The Times?Subscribe .

View post:
Sunak Pledges $3 Billion in Military Aid to Ukraine - The New York Times

Western countries t succumbing to war fatigue "will have to take care of the Muscovites when they come to occupy their territories," Chief of Ukraines Defense Intelligence (HUR) Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview with Le Monde on Jan. 11.

Russia's war against Ukraine began 10 years ago, and the full-scale invasion has been going on since 2022, so war fatigue is becoming more pronounced at both the individual and social levels, he said.

Read also: Attack on Ukraine is an attack on all of us, says Donald Tusk

"I'm not criticizing, said the spy chief.

It's an understandable phenomenon. The main thing is to find solutions, and we found them in time.

Russia is waging a war not only against Ukraine but also against NATO, as their propaganda has been claiming from the very beginning, Budanov stated.

Read also: Three scenarios the West is trying to avoid in Ukraine

"Every day I read classified Russian reports and other reports circulating through various channels," he continued.

All of them talk about 'strikes on NATO bases,' specifying that there were '50 Poles, '30 French,' and so on. They know that this is not true, but they are spreading this information.

Budanov noted that Russian captives are always surprised when they do not encounter any NATO soldiers in Ukraine, because, as they understand it, they came to fight against them. Ukraine is only the first stage.

The spy chief also emphasized that Western sanctions against Russia remain inadequate. Restrictions should have crippled the main sectors of the Russian economy: energy, metallurgy, and the financial system.

Read also: World is rapidly approaching World War III believes Ukrainian intelligence chief Budanov

Budanov touched on several other issues, including the need to provide Ukraine with more shells and artillery systems, both modern and old, as well as the necessity of supporting the stability of Ukraines economy.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk earlier has previously slammed Western war, stressing the importance of further assistance to Ukraine and calling on partners to "fully mobilize."

"I cant bear to hear politicians who talk about fatigue with the situation in Ukraine," Tusk said.

They tell President Zelenskyy that they are tired of the situation. I will demand help for Ukraine from day one.

Were bringing the voice of Ukraine to the world. Support us with a one-time donation, or become a Patron!

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine

See original here:
Ukraine's military intel chief Budanov issues stark warning to war-weary West - Yahoo News

More than $1 billion worth of shoulder-fired missiles, kamikaze drones and night-vision goggles that the United States has sent to Ukraine have not been properly tracked by American officials, a new Pentagon report concluded, raising concerns that they could be stolen or smuggled at a time when Congress is debating whether to send more military aid to Kyiv.

The report by the Defense Departments inspector general, released on Thursday, offers no evidence that any of the weapons have been misused after being shipped to a U.S. military logistics hub in Poland or sent onward to Ukraines front lines.

But it found that American defense officials and diplomats in Washington and Europe had failed to quickly or fully account for many of the nearly 40,000 weapons that by law should have been closely monitored because their battlefield impact, sensitive technology and relatively small size makes them attractive bounty for arms smugglers.

These are identified as the items that because of their sensitivity, their vulnerability to diversion or misuse or the consequences of that its particularly important to have this additional tracking and accountability in place, Robert P. Storch, the Pentagons inspector general, who is also the lead watchdog for American aid sent to help Ukraines war effort, said in an interview on Thursday.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in .

Want all of The Times?Subscribe .

Go here to read the rest:
U.S. Military Aid to Ukraine Was Poorly Tracked, Pentagon Report Says - The New York Times

Ukraine's military spy chief Kyrylo Budanov said in an interview published Friday that Kyiv's attacks against Russian-annexed Crimea were set to intensify, adding that Moscow's economy was proving surprisingly resilient despite sanctions.

"In 2023, the first Ukrainian incursions took place in temporarily occupied Crimea," Budanov told the French daily Le Monde, adding: "And this is just the beginning."

Ukraine has repeatedly targeted Russia's Black Sea Fleet, based in Sevastopol on the Crimean peninsula.

"The Russians have had to move everything in a hurry to the southeast," Budanov said, adding that Moscow was now trying to set up a naval base on the Black Sea coast of the breakaway Georgian region of Abkhazia.

He acknowledged that the front lines were largely frozen in Ukraine.

"The very intensive use of attack drones has made both Russian and Ukrainian offensives impossible," he said, noting that "another factor has been the density of minefields, unprecedented since World War II."

Budanov said the resilience of the Russian economy surprised him and that the current Western sanctions were not enough to force the Kremlin to change its behavior.

"A certain Russian paradox surprised me. Everyone thought that Moscow had a strong army and a weak economy. It turns out that the opposite is true," he said.

"The economy may be weak, but the country is not starving, far from it. It could even last quite a long time at this rate," Budanov said, adding that sanctions should target Russia's main economic sectors and the entire financial system.

Signs of fatigue over the war in Ukraine might be increasing but Budanov urged the West to keep supporting Kyiv militarily.

"Those who think they are tired of Ukraine abroad will have to court Russians when they come to occupy their own territories," he said.

Budanov, who has led Ukraine's GUR military intelligence unit since 2020, accurately predicted that Russia would attack Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

He insisted that now was not the right time to negotiate with Russia.

"Negotiations begin when one or both parties have an interest," he said. "This is not the case."

Read the original:
Ukraine's Spy Chief Promises More Attacks on Crimea - The Moscow Times

In Estonia, a four-story banner that combines the flags of Ukraine and Estonia hangs over a main square in the capital, Tallinn. In Latvia, Foreign Minister Krisjanis Karins is calling for allies to ramp up military support to Ukraine without delay.

And the leader of Lithuania, where President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine began a tour of Baltic States on Wednesday, recently made a pointed plea to help Kyiv hold the line against invading Russian forces as support for Ukraine in the war elsewhere in Europe threatens to fragment.

For all those saying they are tired of war in Ukraine a reminder by the terrorist Russia that theres no limit to its brutality & thirst for blood, President Gitanas Nauseda of Lithuania wrote on the social media platform X on Dec. 29, hours after a Russian barrage of missiles and drones slammed into cities across Ukraine.

Almost nowhere is the emotional investment for Ukraines war effort stronger than in the Baltics, where the three former Soviet states declared independence at the end of the Cold War to escape Russias grip. Mr. Zelenskys trip there this week, an early diplomatic foray of 2024, comes as he tries to rally support for his war effort from a bastion of political backing while other European nations show increasing fatigue and financial distress from a war that began nearly two years ago.

Mr. Zelensky said on Wednesday that his trip, which will also take him to Tallinn in Estonia and Riga in Latvia, was meant to show Ukraines gratitude for the uncompromising support for Ukraine since 2014 and especially now, during Russias full-scale aggression.

Pavlo Klimkin, a former foreign minister of Ukraine, said the trip was intended to engage our friends who are close to us in their understanding of Russia to push for assistance in D.C., in Brussels, because this assistance is critical for us now.

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit andlog intoyour Times account, orsubscribefor all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber?Log in .

Want all of The Times?Subscribe .

The rest is here:
Zelensky Visits Baltic Nations to Rally Support for Ukraine - The New York Times