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Tag: Military technology

  • Indonesia, Australia affirm defense ties amid China concerns

    Indonesia, Australia affirm defense ties amid China concerns

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    JAKARTA, Indonesia — Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles met his Indonesian counterpart on Monday to deepen security ties amid China’s increasingly assertive activity in the Indo-Pacific region.

    Indonesian Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto said he and Marles discussed ways to facilitate cooperation between their militaries.

    “Cooperation between Indonesia and Australia can make an important contribution to regional peace and stability,” Subianto said, adding that the two governments agreed to further strengthen their security ties, including joint military training in Australia and the education of Indonesian cadets at Australian academies.

    Military exchanges between the two neighbors have previously included counterterrorism and border protection.

    Marles declined to make any comment to the media after meeting with Subianto. He vowed in a statement released by the Australian Embassy in Jakarta ahead of the talks to deepen defense engagement with Australia’s closest major neighbor.

    “I look forward to progressing our comprehensive strategic partnership during my visit to Jakarta,” Marles said in the statement.

    Although Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation of more than 270 million people, is often presented as one of Australia’s most important neighbors and strategic allies, the relationship has undergone various ups and downs.

    Recent disagreements include allegations of wiretapping by the Australian Signals Directorate in 2013 to monitor the private phone calls of then Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, his wife and other senior officials; Indonesia’s use of capital punishment on Australian drug smugglers; and cases of people smuggling.

    In 2017, Indonesia temporarily suspended military cooperation with Australia, including joint training, education, exchanges of officers and visits, over an alleged insult against the Indonesian state ideology “Pancasila” and the Indonesian military at an Australian military base.

    In September 2021, Indonesia filed a diplomatic protest against Australia for being slow to provide information about its activities in the AUKUS trilateral pact involving the United States and the United Kingdom, including plans for Australia to acquire nuclear-powered submarines.

    Last year, Australia, along with Japan and Singapore, joined for the first time the annual Indonesia-U.S. joint combat exercise called Super Garuda Shield, making it the largest since the drills began in 2009.

    The expanded drills are seen by China as a threat. Chinese state media have accused the U.S. of building an Indo-Pacific alliance similar to NATO to limit China’s growing military and diplomatic influence in the region.

    Marles arrived in Jakarta on Monday after attending the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore, where he described Australia’s communications about its nuclear-powered submarine program as a model of “military transparency,” and said that China needed to offer a “strategic explanation” of its military expansion.

    Marles, who is also Australia’s deputy prime minister, is to visit Vanuatu after Indonesia.

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  • US defense secretary discusses upgrading ties with India to counter China

    US defense secretary discusses upgrading ties with India to counter China

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    NEW DELHI — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Monday discussed upgrading partnership with India, a major arms buyer, as both countries grapple with China’s economic rise and increased belligerence, officials said.

    Austin met with India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh, with both sides emphasizing technology partnerships including defense, clean energy and space. India is working to promote its domestic defense industry by acquiring technology and reducing reliance on imports, particularly from Russia, its largest supplier of military hardware despite the ongoing war in Ukraine.

    “I’m returning to India to meet with key leaders for discussions about strengthening our Major Defense Partnership. Together, we’re advancing a shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Austin tweeted after his arrival in New Delhi on Sunday.

    Austin, who is on his second visit to India, was expected to lay the groundwork for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington on June 22, which has fuelled speculation about a possible announcement of defense contracts.

    India is looking to buy 18 armed high-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. for an estimated $1.5 billion to $2 billion, said Rahul Bedi, a defense analyst. The UAVs would likely be deployed along its restive borders with China and Pakistan and in the strategic Indian Ocean region, Bedi said.

    Indian media reports said a joint production and manufacture of combat aircraft engines, infantry combat vehicles, howitzers and their precision ordnance were discussed last month in Washington at a meeting of the U.S.-India Defense Policy Group.

    Austin arrived in New Delhi from Singapore, where he attended the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual forum bringing together top defense officials, diplomats and leaders. Austin lobbied for support for Washington’s vision of a “free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights” as the best course to counter increasing Chinese assertiveness in the region.

    China’s Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu said at the conference that the U.S. has been “deceiving and exploiting” Asia-Pacific nations to advance its own self-interests to preserve “its dominant position.”

    Li suggested that Washington has been holding on to alliances that are “remnants of the Cold War” and establishing new pacts, like the AUKUS agreement with Britain and Australia and the Quad grouping with Australia, India and Japan, “to divide the world into ideologically-driven camps and provoke confrontation.”

    India is trying a balancing act in its ties with Washington and Moscow, and has been reducing its dependence on Russian arms by also buying from the U.S., France, Germany and other countries.

    The U.S. defense trade with India has risen from near zero in 2008 to over $20 billion in 2020. Major Indian purchases from the United States included long-range maritime patrol aircraft, C-130 transport aircraft, missiles and drones.

    Experts say up to 60% of Indian defense equipment comes from Russia, and New Delhi finds itself in a bind at a time when it is facing a 3-year-old border standoff with China in eastern Ladakh, where tens of thousands of soldiers are stationed within shooting distance. Twenty Indian soldiers and four Chinese troops died in a clash in 2020.

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  • China defends buzzing American warship in Taiwan Strait, accuses US of provoking Beijing

    China defends buzzing American warship in Taiwan Strait, accuses US of provoking Beijing

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    SINGAPORE — China’s defense minister defended sailing a warship across the path of an American destroyer and Canadian frigate transiting the Taiwan Strait, telling a gathering of some of the world’s top defense officials in Singapore on Sunday that such so-called “freedom of navigation” patrols are a provocation to China.

    In his first international public address since becoming defense minister in March, Gen. Li Shangfu told the Shangri-La Dialogue that China doesn’t have any problems with “innocent passage” but that “we must prevent attempts that try to use those freedom of navigation (patrols), that innocent passage, to exercise hegemony of navigation.”

    U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the same forum Saturday that Washington would not “flinch in the face of bullying or coercion” from China and would continue regularly sailing through and flying over the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea to emphasize they are international waters, countering Beijing’s sweeping territorial claims.

    That same day, as a U.S. guided-missile destroyer and a Canadian frigate were intercepted by a Chinese warship as they transited the strait between the self-governed island of Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, and mainland China. The Chinese vessel overtook the American ship and then veered across its bow at a distance of 150 yards (about 140 meters) in an “unsafe manner,” according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command.

    Additionally, the U.S. has said a Chinese J-16 fighter jet late last month “performed an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while intercepting a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, flying directly in front of the plane’s nose.

    Those and previous incidents have raised concerns of a possible accident occurring that could lead to an escalation between the two nations at a time when tensions are already high.

    Li suggested the U.S. and its allies had created the danger, and should instead should focus on taking “good care of your own territorial airspace and waters.”

    “The best way is for the countries, especially the naval vessels and fighter jets of countries, not to do closing actions around other countries’ territories,” he said through an interpreter. “What’s the point of going there? In China we always say, ‘Mind your own business.’”

    In a wide-ranging speech, Li reiterated many of Beijing’s well-known positions, including its claim on Taiwan, calling it “the core of our core interests.”

    He accused the U.S. and others of “meddling in China’s internal affairs” by providing Taiwan with defense support and training, and conducting high-level diplomatic visits.

    “China stays committed to the path of peaceful development, but we will never hesitate to defend our legitimate rights and interests, let alone sacrifice the nation’s core interests,” he said.

    “As the lyrics of a well-known Chinese song go: ‘When friends visit us, we welcome them with fine wine. When jackals or wolves come, we will face them with shotguns.’”

    In his speech the previous day, Austin broadly outlined the U.S. vision for a “free, open, and secure Indo-Pacific within a world of rules and rights.”

    In the pursuit of such, Austin said the U.S. was stepping up planning, coordination and training with “friends from the East China Sea to the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean” with shared goals “to deter aggression and to deepen the rules and norms that promote prosperity and prevent conflict.”

    Li scoffed at the notion, saying “some country takes a selective approach to rules and international laws.”

    “It likes forcing its own rules on others,” he said. “Its so-called ‘rules-based international order’ never tells you what the rules are and who made these rules.”

    By contrast, he said, “we practice multilateralism and pursue win-win cooperation.”

    Li is under American sanctions that are part of a broad package of measures against Russia — but predate its invasion of Ukraine — that were imposed in 2018 over Li’s involvement in China’s purchase of combat aircraft and anti-aircraft missiles from Moscow.

    The sanctions, which broadly prevent Li from doing business in the United States, do not prevent him from holding official talks, American defense officials have said.

    Still, he refused Austin’s invitation to talk on the sidelines of the conference, though the two did shake hands before sitting down at opposite sides of the same table together as the forum opened Friday.

    Austin said that was not enough.

    “A cordial handshake over dinner is no substitute for a substantive engagement,” Austin said.

    The U.S. has noted that since 2021 — well before Li became defense minister — China has declined or failed to respond to more than a dozen requests from the U.S. Defense Department to talk with senior leaders, as well as multiple requests for standing dialogues and working-level engagements.

    Li said that “China is open to communications between our two countries and also between our two militaries,” but without mentioning the sanctions, said exchanges had to be “based on mutual respect.”

    “That is a very fundamental principle,” he said. “If we do not even have mutual respect, than our communications will not be productive.”

    He said that he recognized that any “severe conflict or confrontation between China and the U.S. will be an unbearable disaster for the world,” and that the two countries need to find ways to improve relations, saying they were “at a record low.”

    “History has proven time and again that both China and the United States will benefit from cooperation and lose from confrontation,” he said.

    “China seeks to develop a new type of major-country relationship with the United States. As for the U.S. side, it needs to act with sincerity, match its words with deeds, and take concrete actions together with China to stabilize the relations and prevent further deterioration,” Li said.

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  • Tanks, F-16 jets part of long-term aid for Ukraine, won’t be ready for upcoming offensive, US says

    Tanks, F-16 jets part of long-term aid for Ukraine, won’t be ready for upcoming offensive, US says

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    PARIS (AP) — America’s top military officer says training for Ukrainian forces on advanced U.S. Abrams tanks has started, but those weapons crucial over the long term in trying to expel Russia from occupied territory will not be ready in time for Kyiv’s imminent counteroffensive.

    The tank training got underway as the United States and its allies began to work out agreements to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets, another long-sought advanced system. Those aircraft would be part of a security plan to deter future attacks, U.S. Army Gen. Mark Milley said late Thursday as he arrived in France.

    “Everyone recognizes Ukraine needs a modernized Air Force,” said Milley, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. “It’s going to take a considerable amount of time.”

    The intent is to provide capabilities for Ukraine in the mid- to long-term, said Nicolas Vaujour, a vice admiral who is chief operations of France’s Joint Staff and spoke to reporters traveling with Milley.

    Milley said detailed planning on the size of F-16 training classes, the types of flying tactics and locations for training was being worked out among the U.S. and allies such as the Netherlands and Britain that have pledged to provide the American-made F-16s. The United States has not said whether it will directly provide jets, but President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will support F-16 training as part of the coalition.

    As those logistics are figured out, the Abrams tank training is moving ahead.

    About 200 Ukrainian soldiers began an approximately 12-week training course in Germany over the past weekend where they are learning how to maneuver, fire and conduct combined arms operations with the advanced armored system. An additional 200 troops are receiving training on tank fueling and fuel truck maintenance.

    The U.S. training schedule is timed to get the troops up to speed on the systems before 31 of the 70-ton Abrams tanks the Biden administration has promised to Ukraine are scheduled arrive by this fall. Those tanks will make up part of a force of about 300 tanks in total pledged by Western allies including Challenger tanks from the United Kingdom, Leopard 2 tanks from Spain and Germany, and light tanks from France.

    The U.S. and its allies balked for months at providing such tanks, citing the significant maintenance and fueling challenges the systems require. Abrams tanks can burn through fuel at a rate of at least 2 gallons per mile (4.7 liters per kilometer), whether the tank is moving or idling. That means a constant supply convoy of fuel trucks must stay within reach so the tanks can keep moving forward.

    As with the recent decision on F-16 training, the U.S. approval to send its own Abrams systems was a necessary part of the allies’ negotiations on tanks for Ukraine so that no Western nation would be providing the systems alone, possibly incurring direct retaliation from Russia. In January, the Biden administration reversed course and agreed that Ukraine would get the tanks.

    Milley is in France to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, which launched the allies’ World War II massive ground counteroffensive to push back Nazi forces in Europe. The war involved some of the largest armored battles in modern history, including a major Soviet counteroffensive against the Nazis in 1943 along the Dnieper River, the same edge along which tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian forces are now entrenched.

    “You can look back to World War II and some of the biggest armored battles that were ever fought in history were fought, basically, in parts of Ukraine,” Milley told reporters traveling with him. “So tanks are very important, both to the defense and the offense, and upgraded modern tanks, the training that goes with it, the ability to use them, will be fundamental to Ukrainian success.”

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  • U.S.: Tanks, F-16 jets part of long-term strategy for Ukraine, won’t be ready for upcoming offensive

    U.S.: Tanks, F-16 jets part of long-term strategy for Ukraine, won’t be ready for upcoming offensive

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    PARIS — Training for Ukrainian forces on advanced U.S. Abrams tanks has begun, and while those systems will not be ready in time for the imminent counteroffensive, those weapons will be critical in the longer-term to Ukraine ultimately pushing Russia out of its occupied territories, Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Mark Milley said.

    Tank training began as the U.S. and allies began to work out agreements to train Ukrainians on F-16 fighter jets — another long-wished-for advanced capability. Ultimately, while the tanks are needed to expel Russian forces from Ukrainian territory, the F-16s would be part of a longer-term security plan to deter future attacks, Milley said Thursday.

    “Everyone recognizes Ukraine needs a modernized Air Force,” Milley said. “It’s going to take a considerable amount of time.”

    Milley said detailed planning on class sizes, the types of flying tactics and locations for training was underway now between the U.S. and allies such as the Netherlands and the U.K. that have already pledged to provide F-16s. The U.S. has not said yet whether or not it will provide jets, but President Joe Biden has said the U.S. will support F-16 training.

    As those details get worked out, Abrams tank training moved ahead. About 200 Ukrainian soldiers began an approximately 12-week training course in Germany on the U.S. tanks over the weekend to teach them how to maneuver, fire and conduct combined arms operations with the advanced armored system. Another 200 troops are getting trained on tank fueling and fuel truck maintenance.

    The U.S. training schedule is timed to get the troops up to speed on the systems before 31 of the 70-ton Abrams tanks the U.S. has promised to Ukraine are scheduled arrive by this fall. Those Abrams tanks will make up part of a force of about 300 tanks total pledged by Western allies including Challenger tanks from the U.K., Leopard 2 tanks from Spain and Germany, and light tanks from France.

    The U.S. and western allies balked for months at providing tanks, citing the significant maintenance and fueling challenges the systems require. Abrams tanks can burn through fuel at a rate of at least two gallons per mile (4.7 liters per kilometer), whether the tank is moving or idling, which means a constant supply convoy of fuel trucks must stay within reach so it can keep moving forward.

    As with the recent decision on providing F-16 fighter jet training for Ukraine, U.S. approval to send its own Abrams systems was a necessary part of the allies’ negotiations on tanks for Ukraine, so no western nation would be providing the systems alone, possibly incurring direct retaliation from Russia. In January, the Biden administration reversed course and agreed that Ukraine would get the tanks.

    Milley is in France to mark the 79th anniversary of D-Day, which launched the allies’ World War II massive ground counteroffensive to push back Nazi forces in Europe. World War II involved some of the largest armored battles in modern history, including a major Soviet counteroffensive against the Nazis in 1943 along the Dnieper River, the same edge along which tens of thousands of Ukrainian and Russian forces are now entrenched.

    “You can look back to World War II and some of the biggest armored battles that were ever fought in history were fought, basically, in parts of Ukraine,” Milley said to reporters traveling with him to the D-Day ceremonies. “So tanks are very important, both to the defense and the offense, and upgraded modern tanks, the training that goes with it, the ability to use them, will be fundamental to Ukrainian success.”

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  • US defense chief calls China’s refusal to meet unfortunate during visit to Tokyo for talks

    US defense chief calls China’s refusal to meet unfortunate during visit to Tokyo for talks

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    TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of communication during a stopover Thursday in Tokyo, calling it unfortunate that his Chinese counterpart is refusing to meet him at an upcoming annual security conference in Singapore, which both men are attending.

    On the way to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit this weekend, Austin held talks with Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada. Noting China’s increasingly assertive military actions in international airspace and waterways in the region, he told a joint news conference in Tokyo, “The provocative intercepts of our aircraft and also our allies’ aircraft, that’s very concerning, and we would hope that they would alter their action.”

    The United States military said Tuesday that a Chinese fighter jet flew aggressively close to a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake.

    “I’m concerned about at some point having an incident that could very, very quickly spiral out of control,” Austin said. “I would welcome any opportunity to engage with leadership. I think defense departments should be talking to each other on a routine basis or should have open channels for communication.”

    Although Beijing said there will be no meeting between Austin and his Chinese counterpart at the security summit, Hamada is expected to attend and meet with Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu on the sidelines.

    Japan and China set up a defense hotline in March to improve communication and avoid accidental encounters in the tense region, and Hamada and Li recently held their first telephone talks on the hotline.

    Washington and Beijing have yet to hold such a talk, and when Austin phoned their crisis line in February, the call went unanswered.

    “We need to strengthen our cooperation of Japan-U.S., and Japan-U.S.-South Korea,” Hamada said Thursday. The two criticized North Korea’s failed rocket launch Wednesday for using ballistic missile technology that’s prohibited under United Nations’ Security Council resolutions, and affirmed further cooperation between them and with South Korea in case of another launch attempt.

    Ties between Japan and South Korea have improved rapidly in recent months under Washington’s pressure in the face of growing regional threats from China, North Korea and Russia. Tokyo and Seoul are also discussing real-time sharing of North Korea’s missile launch data.

    Austin said the United States stands with Japan and South Korea in the face of Pyongyang’s provocations and that “the United States will take all necessary measures to secure to ensure the security of our homeland in the defense of our allies.”

    Austin and Hamada agreed to strengthen extended deterrence for Japan, which includes U.S. nuclear weapons.

    “I am here to reaffirm America’s unwavering commitment to Japan. This includes extended deterrence and provided by the full range of U.S. conventional and nuclear capabilities,” Austin said.

    The two ministers also agreed to step up and expand their defense industries and strengthen multinational formats, including with South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and India to reinforce their Indo-Pacific security cooperation.

    Under its new security strategy issued in December, Japan pledged a military buildup that includes strike capabilities and doubling defense spending — a break from its postwar self-defense-only principle.

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  • US defense chief calls China’s refusal to meet unfortunate during visit to Tokyo for talks

    US defense chief calls China’s refusal to meet unfortunate during visit to Tokyo for talks

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    TOKYO — U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin stressed the importance of communication during a stopover Thursday in Tokyo, calling it unfortunate that his Chinese counterpart is refusing to meet him at an upcoming annual security conference in Singapore, which both men are attending.

    On the way to the annual Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit this weekend, Austin held talks with Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada. Noting China’s increasingly assertive military actions in international airspace and waterways in the region, he told a joint news conference in Tokyo, “The provocative intercepts of our aircraft and also our allies’ aircraft, that’s very concerning, and we would hope that they would alter their action.”

    The United States military said Tuesday that a Chinese fighter jet flew aggressively close to a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, forcing the American pilot to fly through the turbulent wake.

    “I’m concerned about at some point having an incident that could very, very quickly spiral out of control,” Austin said. “I would welcome any opportunity to engage with leadership. I think defense departments should be talking to each other on a routine basis or should have open channels for communication.”

    Although Beijing said there will be no meeting between Austin and his Chinese counterpart at the security summit, Hamada is expected to attend and meet with Chinese Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu on the sidelines.

    Japan and China set up a defense hotline in March to improve communication and avoid accidental encounters in the tense region, and Hamada and Li recently held their first telephone talks on the hotline.

    Washington and Beijing have yet to hold such a talk, and when Austin phoned their crisis line in February, the call went unanswered.

    “We need to strengthen our cooperation of Japan-U.S., and Japan-U.S.-South Korea,” Hamada said Thursday. The two criticized North Korea’s failed rocket launch Wednesday for using ballistic missile technology that’s prohibited under United Nations’ Security Council resolutions, and affirmed further cooperation between them and with South Korea in case of another launch attempt.

    Ties between Japan and South Korea have improved rapidly in recent months under Washington’s pressure in the face of growing regional threats from China, North Korea and Russia. Tokyo and Seoul are also discussing real-time sharing of North Korea’s missile launch data.

    Austin said the United States stands with Japan and South Korea in the face of Pyongyang’s provocations and that “the United States will take all necessary measures to secure to ensure the security of our homeland in the defense of our allies.”

    Austin and Hamada agreed to strengthen extended deterrence for Japan, which includes U.S. nuclear weapons.

    “I am here to reaffirm America’s unwavering commitment to Japan. This includes extended deterrence and provided by the full range of U.S. conventional and nuclear capabilities,” Austin said.

    The two ministers also agreed to step up and expand their defense industries and strengthen multinational formats, including with South Korea, Australia, the Philippines and India to reinforce their Indo-Pacific security cooperation.

    Under its new security strategy issued in December, Japan pledged a military buildup that includes strike capabilities and doubling defense spending — a break from its postwar self-defense-only principle.

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  • Russia strikes Kyiv in daylight after hitting Ukraine’s capital with series of nighttime barrages

    Russia strikes Kyiv in daylight after hitting Ukraine’s capital with series of nighttime barrages

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Explosions rattled Kyiv during daylight Monday as Russian ballistic missiles took aim at the Ukrainian capital, hours after a more common nighttime barrage of the city by drones and cruise missiles.

    Russian forces fired 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv at about 11:30 a.m. (0830 GMT; 4:30 a.m. EDT), according to Ukraine’s chief of staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. All of them were shot down, he said, and puffs of white smoke could be seen in the blue sky over the city from street level.

    Debris from the intercepted missiles fell in Kyiv’s central and northern districts during the morning, landing in the middle of traffic on a city road and also starting a fire on the roof of a building, the Kyiv military administration said. At least one civilian was reported hurt.

    The blasts unnerved some locals, already under strain after being awakened by the night attack.

    “After what happened last night, I react sharply to every siren now. I was terrified, and I’m still trembling,” shared Alina Ksenofontova, a 50-year-old woman who took refuge in the Kyiv subway with her dog Bublik.

    The central station, Teatralna, was crowded with sheltering locals.

    Artem Zhyla, a 24-year-old who provides legal services abroad, took his laptop with him and kept working underground.

    “I heard two or three explosions, went to the bathroom, and then I heard five or seven more explosions. That’s when I realized something terrible was happening,” he said.

    Like many others in the capital, he feels exhausted and stressed. However, he has no intention of giving up and plans to attend his yoga class to recharge.

    “This is certainly not enough to break us,” he said.

    Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska both posted a video of what they said were frightened schoolchildren running and screaming down a Kyiv street toward a bomb shelter as sirens wailed.

    “This is what an ordinary weekday looks like,” the president wrote on Telegram.

    Russia used Iskander short-range missiles in the morning attack, the spokesman for Ukraine’s air force said on local television.

    The missiles were fired from north of Kyiv, Yurii Ihnat said, without clarifying if he meant Russian territory. Kyiv lies around 380 kilometers (236 miles) from the Russian border.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said it launched a series of strikes early Monday targeting Ukrainian air bases with precision long-range air-launched missiles. The strikes destroyed command posts, radars, aircraft and ammunition stockpiles, it claimed. It didn’t say anything about hitting cities or other civilian areas.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned against indifference, saying the repeated strikes on civilian areas amounted to “war crimes.”

    “Russia’s drone and missile attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities cannot be seen as usual, no matter how frequent they grow,” he tweeted in English.

    During the previous night, Ukraine air defenses brought down more than 40 targets as Russian forces bombarded Kyiv with a combination of drones and cruise missiles in their 15th nighttime attack on the capital so far this month, said Serhii Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration.

    On Saturday night, Kyiv was subjected to the largest drone attack since the start of Russia’s war. At least one person was killed, local officials said.

    The Kremlin’s strategy of long-range bombardment has brought many sleepless nights for Ukrainians.

    Over the winter, Russian forces aimed their missiles and drones at power plants and other infrastructure. The apparent goal was to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and compel the Ukrainian government to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms, but Ukrainians swiftly and defiantly repaired the damage.

    In recent months, Ukraine has been receiving advanced air defense systems from its Western allies, improving its ability to fend off bombardments by the Kremlin’s forces.

    The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency is to speak Tuesday at the United Nations Security Council about safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control and endangered by the fighting.

    Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s amabssador to international organizations in Vienna, said IAEA head Rafael Grossi was expected to “set out specific ideas” about how to strengthen security at the plant, which is Europe’s largest nuclear power station.

    Across the country, the Ukrainian air force said that over Sunday night it shot down 37 out of 40 cruise missiles and 29 out of 35 drones launched by the Kremlin’s forces.

    Four civilians were killed and around two dozen others were injured, including three children and a pregnant woman, in Russian shelling elsewhere across the country, authorities said.

    Russian warplanes dropped bombs on the town of Toretsk on Monday afternoon, killing three civilians, Donetsk regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

    Strikes on the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region killed two people, officials said.

    Meanwhile, in the Belgorod region of Russia on the border with Ukraine, one person was killed by Ukrainian shelling of the village of Grafovka, according to Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.

    Russian missiles also slammed into a military airport In the western Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine, destroying five aircraft and damaging the runway, local Gov. Serhyi Hamaliy said on television.

    The strike sparked fires at nearby warehouses storing fuel and military equipment, he added.

    ___

    Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.

    ___

    Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Russia strikes Kyiv in daylight after hitting Ukraine’s capital with series of nighttime barrages

    Russia strikes Kyiv in daylight after hitting Ukraine’s capital with series of nighttime barrages

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Explosions rattled Kyiv during daylight Monday as Russian ballistic missiles took aim at the Ukrainian capital, hours after a more common nighttime barrage of the city by drones and cruise missiles.

    Russian forces fired 11 ballistic and cruise missiles at Kyiv at about 11:30 a.m. (0830 GMT; 4:30 a.m. EDT), according to Ukraine’s chief of staff, Valerii Zaluzhnyi. All of them were shot down, he said, and puffs of white smoke could be seen in the blue sky over the city from street level.

    Debris from the intercepted missiles fell in Kyiv’s central and northern districts during the morning, landing in the middle of traffic on a city road and also starting a fire on a building’s roof, the Kyiv military administration said. At least one civilian was reported hurt.

    The blasts unnerved some locals, already under strain after being awakened by the night attack.

    “After what happened last night, I react sharply to every siren now. I was terrified, and I’m still trembling,” shared Alina Ksenofontova, a 50-year-old woman who took refuge in the Kyiv subway with her dog Bublik.

    The central station, Tetatralna, was crowded with sheltering locals.

    Artem Zhyla, a 24-year-old who provides legal services abroad, took his laptop with him and kept working underground.

    “I heard two or three explosions, went to the bathroom, and then I heard five or seven more explosions. That’s when I realized something terrible was happening,” he said.

    Like many others in the capital, he feels exhausted and stressed. However, he has no intentions of giving up and plans to attend his yoga class to recharge.

    “This is certainly not enough to break us,” he said.

    Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and first lady Olena Zelenska both posted a video of what they said were frightened schoolchildren running and screaming down a Kyiv street toward a bomb shelter as sirens wail.

    “This is what an ordinary weekday looks like,” the president wrote on Telegram.

    Russia used Iskander short-range missiles in the morning attack, the spokesman for Ukraine’s air force said on local television.

    The missiles were fired from north of Kyiv, Yurii Ihnat said without clarifying if he meant Russian territory. Kyiv lies around 380 kilometers (236 miles) from the Russian border.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said that early Monday it launched a series of strikes targeting Ukrainian air bases with precision long-range air-launched missiles. The strikes destroyed command posts, radars, aircraft and ammunition stockpiles, it claimed. It didn’t say anything about hitting cities or other civilian areas.

    Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba warned against indifference, saying the repeated strikes on civilian areas amounted to “war crimes.”

    “Russia’s drone and missile attacks on peaceful Ukrainian cities cannot be seen as usual, no matter how frequent they grow,” he tweeted in English.

    During the previous night, Ukraine air defenses brought down more than 40 targets as Russian forces bombarded Kyiv with a combination of drones and cruise missiles in their 15th nighttime attack on the capital so far this month, said Serhii Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration.

    On Saturday night, Kyiv was subjected to the largest drone attack since the start of Russia’s war. At least one person was killed, local officials said.

    Kremlin’s strategy of long-range bombardment has brought many sleepless nights for Ukrainians.

    Over the winter, Russian forces aimed their missiles and drones at power plants and other infrastructure. The apparent goal was to weaken Ukraine’s resolve and compel the Ukrainian government to negotiate peace on Moscow’s terms, but Ukrainians swiftly and defiantly repaired the damage.

    In recent months, Ukraine has been receiving advanced air defense systems from its Western allies, improving its ability to fend off bombardments by the Kremlin’s forces.

    Across the country, the Ukrainian air force said that over Sunday night it shot down 37 out of 40 cruise missiles and 29 out of 35 drones launched by the Kremlin’s forces.

    Four civilians were killed and around two dozen others were injured, including three children and a pregnant woman, in Russian shelling elsewhere across the country, authorities said.

    Russian warplanes dropped bombs on the town of Toretsk on Monday afternoon, killing three civilians, Donetsk regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

    Strikes on the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region killed two people, officials said.

    Meanwhile, in the Belgorod region of Russia on the border with Ukraine, one person was killed by Ukrainian shelling of the village of Grafovka, according to Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov.

    Russian missiles also slammed into a military airport In the western Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine, destroying five aircraft and damaging the runway, local Gov. Serhyi Hamaliy said on television.

    The strike sparked fires at nearby warehouses storing fuel and military equipment, he added.

    ___

    Yuras Karmanau contributed to this report from Tallinn, Estonia.

    ___

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  • Russia launched ‘largest drone attack’ on Ukrainian capital before Kyiv Day; 1 killed

    Russia launched ‘largest drone attack’ on Ukrainian capital before Kyiv Day; 1 killed

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    KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s capital was subjected to the largest drone attack since the start of Russia’s war, local officials said, as Kyiv prepared to mark the anniversary of its founding on Sunday. At least one person was killed.

    Russia launched the “most massive attack” on the city overnight Saturday with Iranian-made Shahed drones, said Serhii Popko, a senior Kyiv military official. The attack lasted more than five hours, with air defense reportedly shooting down more than 40 drones.

    A 41-year-old man was killed and a 35-year-old woman was hospitalized when debris fell on a seven-story nonresidential building and started a fire, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said.

    Ukraine’s air force said that Saturday night was also record-breaking in terms of Shahed drone attacks across the country. Of the 54 drones launched, 52 were shot down by air defense systems.

    In the northeastern Kharkiv province, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov said a 61-year-old woman and a 60-year-old man were killed in two separate shelling attacks.

    Kyiv Day marks the anniversary of Kyiv’s official founding. The day is usually celebrated with live concerts, street fairs, exhibitions and fireworks. Scaled-back festivities were planned for this year, the city’s 1,541st anniversary.

    The timing of the drone attacks was likely not coincidental, Ukrainian officials said.

    “The history of Ukraine is a long-standing irritant for the insecure Russians,” Ukraine’s chief presidential aide, Andriy Yermak, said on Telegram.

    “Today, the enemy decided to ‘congratulate’ the people of Kyiv on Kyiv Day with the help of their deadly UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles),” Popko also wrote on the messaging app.

    Local officials in Russia’s southern Krasnodar region said that air defense systems destroyed several drones as they approached the Ilsky oil refinery.

    Russia’s southern Belgorod region, bordering Ukraine, also came under attack from Ukrainian forces on Saturday, local officials said. Regional Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov reported Sunday that a 15-year-old girl and a 17-year-old boy were wounded in the shelling.

    Drone attacks against Russian border regions have been a regular occurrence since the start of the invasion in February 2022, with attacks increasing last month. Earlier this month, an oil refinery in Krasnodar was attacked by drones on two straight days.

    Ukrainian air defenses, bolstered by sophisticated Western-supplied systems, have been adept at thwarting Russian air attacks — both drones and aircraft missiles.

    Earlier in May, Ukraine prevented an intense Russian air attack on Kyiv, shooting down all missiles aimed at the capital. The bombardment, which additionally targeted locations across Ukraine, included six Russian Kinzhal aero-ballistic hypersonic missiles, repeatedly touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin as providing a key strategic competitive advantage and among the most advanced weapons in his country’s arsenal.

    Sophisticated Western air defense systems, including American-made Patriot missiles, have helped spare Kyiv from the kind of destruction witnessed along the main front line in the country’s east and south. While most of the ground fighting is stalemated along that front line, both sides are targeting other territory with long-range weapons.

    Against the backdrop of Saturday night’s drone attacks, Russia’s ambassador to the U.K., Andrei Kelin, warned of an escalation in Ukraine. He told the BBC on Sunday his country had “enormous resources” and it was yet to “act very seriously,” cautioning that Western supplies of weapons to Ukraine risked escalating the war to a “new dimension.” The length of the conflict, he said, “depends on the efforts in escalation of war that is being undertaken by NATO countries, especially by the U.K.”

    Kelin’s comments are typical of Russian officials’ rhetoric with regard to Moscow’s military might, but contradict regular reports from the battlefield of Russian troops being poorly equipped and trained.

    Also on Sunday, the death toll from Friday’s missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, the regional capital of the Dnipropetrovsk province, rose to four. Regional. Gov. Serhii Lysak said that three people who were considered missing were confirmed dead. There were 32 people, including two children, wounded in the attack, which struck a building containing psychology and veterinary clinics.

    ___

    Elise Morton reported from London.

    ___

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  • Austin hopes F-16 fight jet training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in coming weeks

    Austin hopes F-16 fight jet training for Ukrainian pilots will begin in coming weeks

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    WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday he hopes that training for Ukrainian pilots on American-made F-16 fighter jets will begin in the coming weeks, bolstering Ukraine in the long run but not necessarily as part of an anticipated spring counteroffensive against Russia.

    Austin spoke as defense leaders from around the world assembled for a virtual meeting to discuss the ongoing military support for Ukraine. They were expected talk about which countries will provide F-16s, and how and where the pilot training will be done.

    The officials will also get an update on the war effort from Ukrainian leaders, including preparation for that anticipated counteroffensive and how the allies, who have faced their own stockpile pressures, can continue to support Kyiv’s fight against Russia.

    “We’re going to have to dig deeper, and we’re going to have to continue to look for creative ways to boost our industrial capability,” Austin said before the military leaders began their closed session. “The stakes are high. But the cause is just and our will is strong.”

    European countries have said they are talking about which countries may have some of the F-16s available. The United States had long balked at providing the advanced aircraft to Ukraine, and only last weekend did President Joe Biden agree to allow other nations to send their own U.S.-made jets to Kyiv.

    “We hope this training will begin in the coming weeks,” Austin said. “This will further strengthen and improve the capabilities of the Ukrainian Air Force in the long term. And it will complement our short-term and medium-term security agreements. This new joint effort sends a powerful message about our unity and our long-term commitment to Ukraine’s self-defense.”

    The leaders will also likely discuss Ukraine’s other continuing military needs, including air defense systems and munitions, artillery and other ammunition.

    It was not immediately clear whether they will make any firm decisions on the F-16 issue, but initial steps have begun.

    Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said Tuesday that training for Ukrainian pilots had begun in Poland and some other countries, though Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said training was still in the planning phase. The Netherlands and Denmark, among others, are also making plans for training.

    “We can continue and also finalize the plans that we’re making with Denmark and other allies to start these these trainings. And of course, that is the first step that you have to take,” Dutch Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said, adding that initial discussions about who may have F-16s available to send is underway.

    Ukraine has long sought the sophisticated fighter to give it a combat edge as it battles Russia’s invasion, now in its second year.

    The Biden administration’s decision was a sharp reversal after refusing to approve any transfer of the aircraft or conduct training for more than a year because of worries that doing so could escalate tensions with Russia. U.S. officials also had argued against the F-16 by saying that learning to fly and logistically support such an advanced aircraft would be difficult and take months.

    Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said this week that the U.S. decision on the F-16 was part of a broader long-term commitment to meet Ukraine’s future military needs. He said the jets would not be relevant in any counteroffensive expected to begin shortly.

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  • F-18 fighter jet accident at Zaragoza airbase as pilot ejects successfully

    F-18 fighter jet accident at Zaragoza airbase as pilot ejects successfully

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    The Spanish defense ministry says an F-18 fighter jet has crashed at an airbase in the Spanish city of Zaragoza but the pilot ejected successfully

    ByJOSEPH WILSON Associated Press

    BARCELONA, Spain — An F-18 fighter jet crashed at an airbase in the Spanish city of Zaragoza but the pilot ejected successfully, the Spanish defense ministry said Saturday.

    The aircraft landed within the perimeter of the base, the defense ministry said on Twitter.

    The base, which lies about 10 miles (16 kilometers) outside the city, belongs to the Spanish Air and Space Force.

    Videos posted on social media showed a plane in flames falling towards the ground.

    The pilot was already in hospital and his life was not in danger, the air force said.

    Spain’s public news agency EFE said the F-18 was training for a flying exhibition when the incident occurred.

    The Guardia Civil told The Associated Press that one of its patrols was the first to reach the pilot, who fell outside the exterior fence surrounding the airbase.

    According to the Guardia Civil, the pilot suffered injuries to his legs, apparently because he ejected with a parachute from a low altitude. He was evacuated to hospital in a helicopter.

    The Guardia Civil said it would collaborate with the military in investigating the crash. It said that the initial information provided by the pilot was that the plane had apparently suffered a malfunction.

    The American-made F-18 Hornet has formed a part of the air defenses of the United States since the 1980s and has been purchased by the air forces of several allied countries.

    Spain’s air force acquired its first 72 models of F-18 manufactured by McDonnell Douglas in 1983. The fighters, known for their versatility, entered service three years later. Spain‘s air force later purchased an unspecified number of additional F-18s.

    The Zaragoza base is home to a unit of Spain’s F-18s.

    Spain’s defense ministry did not immediately respond to questions by the AP about incident.

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  • China says ready to ‘smash’ Taiwan self-rule as US prepares major arms package, sends advisers

    China says ready to ‘smash’ Taiwan self-rule as US prepares major arms package, sends advisers

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    BEIJING — China’ is prepared to “resolutely smash any form of Taiwan independence,” its military said Tuesday, as the U.S. reportedly prepares to accelerate the sale of defensive weapons and other military assistance to the self-governing island democracy.

    A recent increase in exchanges between the U.S. and Taiwanese militaries is an “extremely wrong and dangerous move,” Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei said in a statement and video posted online.

    China’s People’s Liberation Army “continues to strengthen military training and preparations and will resolutely smash any form of Taiwanese independence secession along with attempts at outside interference, and will resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Tan said, in a reference to Taiwan’s closest ally, the United States.

    China claims the island of 23 million people as its own territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary.

    With the world’s largest navy, latest-generation fighter jets and a huge arsenal of ballistic missiles, China has been upping its threats by sending planes and warships into waters and airspace around Taiwan. With more than 2 million members, the PLA also ranks as the world’s largest standing military, although transporting even a portion of the force in the event of an invasion is considered a huge logistical challenge.

    Along with daily air and sea incursions around Taiwan, Beijing has held military exercises in and around the Taiwan Strait dividing the sides, seen in part as a rehearsal for a blockade or invasion that would have massive consequences for security and economies worldwide.

    Such actions seek to harass Taiwan’s military and intimidate politicians and voters who will choose a new president and legislature next year.

    The moves appear to have had limited effect, with most Taiwanese firmly in favor of maintaining their de facto independent status. Politicians and other public figures from Europe and the U.S. have also been making frequent trips to Taipei to show their support, despite their countries’ lack of formal diplomatic ties in deference to Beijing.

    Tan’s comments were prompted by a question from an unidentified reporter about reports that U.S. President Joe Biden is preparing to approve the sale of $500 million in arms to Taiwan, as well as sending more than 100 military personnel to evaluate training methods and offer suggestions for improving the island’s defenses.

    Taiwan enjoys strong support from both the U.S. Democratic and Republican parties, which have called on the Biden administration to follow through on nearly $19 billion in military items approved for sale but not yet delivered to Taiwan.

    Administration officials have blamed the delayed deliveries on bottlenecks in production related to issues from the COVID-19 pandemic to limited capacity and increased demand for arms to assist Ukraine. Biden’s move would allow the export of items from existing U.S. military stockpiles, speeding up the delivery of at least some of the hardware Taiwan needs to deter or repel any Chinese attack.

    Among the items on backorder are Harpoon anti-ship missiles, F-16 fighter jets, shoulder-fired Javelin and Stinger missiles and the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, a multiple rocket and missile launcher mounted on a truck that has become a crucial weapon for Ukrainian troops battling Russian invasion forces.

    Tan’s comments were in line with Beijing’s standard tone on what it calls the “core of China’s core interests.” The two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949 and Beijing considers bringing Taiwan under its control as key to asserting its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

    Attempts to “seek independence by relying on the United States” and “seek independence by military might” are a “dead end,” Tan said.

    With China-U.S. relations at a historic low and Taiwanese unreceptive to Beijing’s demands for political concessions on unification, concerns are rising about the likelihood of an open conflict involving all three sides and possibly U.S. treaty allies such as Japan.

    China’s diplomatic and economic support for Russia following its invasion of Ukraine has also increased tensions with Washington. Beijing is believed to be closely studying Moscow’s military failures in the conflict, while the Western will to back Kyiv is seen by some as a test of its determination to side with Taiwan in the event of a conflict with China.

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  • Ukrainian president says counteroffensive won’t aim to attack Russian territory

    Ukrainian president says counteroffensive won’t aim to attack Russian territory

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    BERLIN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Sunday that his country is preparing a counteroffensive designed to liberate areas occupied by Russia, not to attack Russian territory.

    Speaking during a news conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, Zelenskyy said Ukraine’s goal is to free the territories within its internationally recognized borders.

    The Washington Post cited previously undisclosed documents from a trove of U.S. intelligence leaks suggesting that Zelenskyy has considered trying to capture areas in Russia proper for possible use as bargaining chips in peace negotiations to end the war launched by Moscow in February 2022. This would put him at odds with Western governments that have insisted that weapons they provide must not be used to attack targets in Russia.

    Asked about the report, Zelenskyy said: “We don’t attack Russian territory, we liberate our own legitimate territory.”

    “We have neither the time nor the strength (to attack Russia),” he said, according to an official interpreter. “And we also don’t have weapons to spare, with which we could do this.”

    “We are preparing a counterattack for the illegally occupied areas based on our constitutionally defined legitimate borders, which are recognized internationally,” Zelenskyy said.

    Among the areas still occupied by Russia are the Crimean peninsula and parts of eastern Ukraine with mainly Russian-speaking populations.

    The Ukrainian president is visiting allies in search of further arms to help his country fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by more than a year of devastating conflict.

    A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy to the German capital from Rome, where he had met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

    It was his first visit to Berlin since the start of the war and came a day after the German government announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.

    Zelenskyy thanked Scholz for Germany’s political, financial and military support, saying the country is now second only behind the United States in providing aid to Ukraine — and joked that he is working to make it the biggest donor.

    “German air defense systems, artillery, tanks and infantry fighting vehicles are saving Ukrainian lives and bringing us closer to victory. Germany is a reliable ally! Together we are bringing peace closer!” he wrote on Twitter after the meeting.

    Scholz said Berlin has so far given Kyiv some 17 billion euros in bilateral aid and that it can expect more in future.

    “We will support you for as long as necessary,” he said, adding that it is up to Russia to end the war by withdrawing its troops.

    The office of French President Emmanuel Macron later announced that Zelenskyy will make a surprise visit to Paris for talks.

    Macron’s office said the two leaders will hold talks over dinner and that Macron will “reaffirm France and Europe’s unwavering support to reestablish Ukraine in its legitimate rights and to defend its fundamental interests.”

    After initially hesitating to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air-defense system. Modern Western hardware is considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive against Russian troops.

    Zelenskyy said one reason for his latest visit to allied capitals was to forge a “fighter jet coalition” that would provide Ukraine with the combat planes it needs to counter Russia’s air dominance.

    Germany has said in the past that it doesn’t have the F-16 jets Ukraine needs and Scholz responded to questions about possible plane deliveries by referring to the anti-aircraft system Berlin has provided to Kyiv.

    “That’s what we as Germany are now concentrating on,” he said.

    In Ukraine, officials on Sunday denied that the country had anything to do with the downing of two Russian helicopters close to the border the day before.

    In a joint statement after their meeting, Scholz and Zelenskyy said they support efforts to bring those responsible for atrocities in Ukraine to justice and noted the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

    They also pledged to ensure sanctions against Russia aren’t circumvented and to explore possibilities for using frozen Russian assets to pay for damage caused in Ukraine.

    Germany said it supports Kyiv’s efforts to join the European Union and backed a 2008 vow by NATO members to pave the way for Ukraine to eventually join the military alliance.

    Zelenskyy first met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s head of state, who was snubbed by Kyiv last year, apparently over his previous close ties to Russia, causing a chill in diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany. Since then, both Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited Ukraine.

    After talks with Scholz and other senior officials at the chancellery, the two leaders flew to the western city of Aachen for Zelenskyy to receive the prestigious International Charlemagne Prize, awarded to him and the people of Ukraine.

    In her congratulatory speech, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen compared the war in Ukraine to the fall of the Iron Curtain more than 30 years ago.

    “Every generation has its moment when it has to stand up to defend democracy and what it believes in,” she said. “For us, that moment has come.”

    Zelenskyy accused Moscow of trying to turn back the clock of European history in its attack on Ukraine.

    “Modern Russia waged war not just on us, as a free and sovereign state, not just against united Europe as a global symbol of peace and prosperity,” he said in his acceptance speech. “This is Russia’s war for the past.”

    French media reported that Zelenskyy planned to travel on to Paris late Sunday, but officials at the president and prime minister’s office wouldn’t confirm.

    In other developments:

    Zelenskyy’s chief aide, Andriy Yermak, said Sunday that five civilians died in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region when an unexploded Russian shell blew up. Another Kherson resident died in shelling, said regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

    To people were killed in Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region, governor Oleh Syniehubov said.

    Overnight, Russia launched a “massive” attack on Ukraine with Iranian-made Shahed explosive drones, which left more than 30 people wounded, according to the Ukrainian military.

    Eighteen of the 23 drones were shot down, but those that got through, and wreckage from those intercepted, damaged 50 apartment buildings, private homes and other buildings, the military said without providing further details.

    Russia also hit the western city of Ternopil and southern city of Mykolaiv with rockets, wounding an unspecified number of civilians.

    Shelling by Russian forces killed two people — a 59-year-old woman and a 65-year-old man — in the Chuhuiv district of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv province on Sunday, regional Gov. Oleh Syniehubov reported on Telegram.

    Meanwhile, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported Sunday that Ukrainian forces had killed two of its colonels in the Bakhmut area.

    ___

    David Rising and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Elise Morton in London and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

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  • Wagner mercenary boss suggests Russia may have downed its own military aircraft

    Wagner mercenary boss suggests Russia may have downed its own military aircraft

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    The head of Russia’s feared Wagner private army has suggested that four Russian military aircraft that reportedly crashed in a region that borders Ukraine may have been shot down by Russia’s own forces

    The head of Russia’s feared Wagner private army suggested Sunday that four Russian military aircraft that reportedly crashed in a region that borders Ukraine may have been shot down by Russia’s own forces.

    Russian officials have not commented on reports in Russian conventional and social media that two fighter planes — an Su-34 and an Su-35 — and two military Mi-8 helicopters crashed in the Bryansk region on Saturday.

    State news agency Tass cited unspecified emergency services sources as saying the Su-34 and one helicopter crashed. Other sources, including Vladimir Rogov, the head of a Russian collaborationist organization in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia province, claimed four aircraft went down.

    All of them reportedly belonged to the same military air group.

    During the war, cross-border shelling has repeatedly hit Bryansk, which abuts Ukraine’s Chernihiv and Sumy provinces. Authorities there claimed that unexplained explosions also derailed two freight trains and that an armed group penetrated the region from Ukraine in March and killed two civilians.

    The reported crashes raise concerns about Ukraine’s capability to hit Russia and about Russia’s military competence.

    A spokesman for Ukraine’s air force, Yuriy Ihnat, denied Sunday that Ukraine was involved in downing the aircraft. In remarks on Ukrainian television, he suggested that Russia itself could be responsible, but he later walked back the remark, saying it was an attempt at joking.

    However, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin offered a similar hypothesis.

    Four planes, — if you draw a circle in the places of their fall, it turns out that this circle has a diameter (and all of them lie exactly in a circle) of 40 kilometers (25 miles). … Now go on the Internet and see what kind of air defense weapon could be in the center of this circle, and then build your own versions,” Prigozhin said on Telegram.

    Prigozhin, whose forces are in the thick of a grinding monthslong battle for the city of Bakhmut, clarified that he was not “in the know” about the situation. But he has repeatedly criticized the Russian military for its strategy in Ukraine and for allegedly failing to supply Wagner with the ammunition it needs in Bakhmut.

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  • Military honors for Ukrainian president as he visits Germany to discuss arms deliveries

    Military honors for Ukrainian president as he visits Germany to discuss arms deliveries

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    BERLIN — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was welcomed with military honors Sunday by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he made his first visit to Germany since Russia invaded Ukraine.

    Zelenskyy is visiting allies in search of further arms deliveries to help his country fend off the Russian invasion, and funds to rebuild what’s been destroyed by more than a year of devastating conflict.

    A Luftwaffe jet flew Zelenskyy to the German capital from Rome, where he had met Saturday with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

    On the eve of his arrival — which is taking place amid tight security — the German government announced a new package of military aid for Ukraine worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.

    “Already in Berlin. Weapons. Powerful package. Air defense. Reconstruction. EU. NATO. Security,” Zelenskyy tweeted Sunday, in an apparent reference to the key priorities of his trip.

    After initially hesitating to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, Germany has become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, including Leopard 1 and 2 battle tanks, and the sophisticated IRIS-T SLM air-defense system. Modern Western hardware is considered crucial if Ukraine is to succeed in its planned counteroffensive against Russian troops.

    Zelenskyy first met with President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Germany’s head of state, who was snubbed by Kyiv last year, apparently over his previous close ties to Russia, causing a chill in diplomatic relations between Ukraine and Germany.

    Since then, both Steinmeier and Chancellor Olaf Scholz have visited Ukraine, assuring Zelenskyy of their support for his country’s fight against the Russian invasion. Announcing the new arms package, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin would help Ukraine for “as long as it takes.”

    After meeting Scholz and other senior officials at the chancellery, the two leaders are expected to fly to the western city of Aachen for Zelenskyy to receive the International Charlemagne Prize awarded to him and the people of Ukraine.

    Organizers say the award recognizes that their resistance against Russia’s invasion is a defense “not just of the sovereignty of their country and the life of its citizens, but also of Europe and European values.”

    While German leaders have expressed strong backing for Ukraine, German voters are divided on whether the country should provide further weapons, particularly advanced fighter jets of the kind Kyiv is asking its allies for.

    ——

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  • Zelenskyy arrives in Rome for meetings with Pope Francis, Italian leaders

    Zelenskyy arrives in Rome for meetings with Pope Francis, Italian leaders

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    ROME — Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy arrived in Rome on Saturday for talks with Italian officials and Pope Francis, who has said the Vatican has launched a behind-the-scenes initiative to try to end the war launched last year by Russia.

    “Today in Rome,″ Zelenskyy tweeted. ”I’m meeting with President of Italy Sergio Mattarella, Prime Minister of Italy @GiorgiaMeloni and the Pope @Pontifex. An important visit for approaching victory of Ukraine! ”

    When Zelenskyy arrived at a military airfield at Rome’s Ciampino airport, Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani was on hand to greet him. Tajani told reporters that Italy will continue to support Ukraine “360 degrees” and press for a just peace, one that safeguards Ukraine’s independence.

    Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni staunchly backs military and other aid for Ukraine.

    But while her far-right Brothers of Italy party fiercely champions the principle of national sovereignty, Meloni has had to contend with leaders of two coalition partners who have openly professed for years their admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin. Coalition ally Silvio Berlusconi, a former premier, has boasted of his friendship with Putin, while another government ally, League leader Matteo Salvini, has questioned the value of economic sanctions against Russia.

    Zelenskyy began his official meetings by calling on Mattarella, who is head of state, at the presidential Quirinale Palace. Rain let up just in time about noon for the two to view an honor guard in the palace courtyard atop the Quirinal Hill, and Zelenskyy stood with his hand over his heart as an Italian military band played Ukraine’s anthem.

    En route, Zelenskyy’s motorcade passed by cheering Ukrainians who had waited in the rain to welcome him during his visit to the Italian capital, expected to last several hours. Near the presidential palace was Mariya Hrytskevych, a Ukrainian citizen living in Italy, who noted that Zelenskyy is “traveling a lot for our good — to fight and to find more help, because we need help.”

    Zelenskyy is believed to be heading to Berlin next.

    Zelenskyy’s exact schedule hadn’t been publicly announced because of security concerns, and the Vatican only confirmed a papal meeting shortly before the Ukrainian president’s plane touched down.

    Italian state radio reported that as part of protective measures, a no-fly zone was ordered for Rome skies and police sharpshooters were strategically placed on high buildings.

    Meloni met with Zelenskyy in Kyiv, shortly before the anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

    Francis, who is eager for peace, last met with the Ukrainian leader in 2020.

    The pontiff makes frequent impassioned pleas on behalf of Ukraine’s “martyred” people, in his words.

    At the end of April, flying back to Rome from a trip to Hungary, Francis told reporters on the plane that the Vatican was involved in a behind-the-scene peace mission but gave no details. Neither Russia nor Ukraine has confirmed such an initiative.

    He has said he would like to go to Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, if such a visit could be coupled with one to Moscow, in hopes a papal pilgrimage could further the cause of peace.

    Last month, Ukraine’s prime minister met with Francis at the Vatican and said he asked the pontiff to help Ukraine get back children illegally taken to Russia during the invasion.

    The German government, meanwhile, said it was providing Ukraine with additional military aid worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition.

    The announcement Saturday came as preparations were underway in Berlin for a possible first visit to Germany by Zelenskyy since Russia invaded his country last year.

    Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Berlin wants to show with the latest package of arms “that Germany is serious in its support” for Ukraine.

    “Germany will provide all the help it can, as long as it takes,” he said.

    OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

    — A “massive” Russian barrage overnight damaged an energy facility in Ukraine’s western Khmelnytskyi region, the Ukrainian energy ministry said Saturday morning. It added that power supply in the region wasn’t affected. The mayor of the regional capital said that 11 civilians were wounded or injured overnight as a result of a Russian missile strike, He added that “hundreds” of residential buildings in the city were also damaged in the strike.

    — Russian forces on Friday and overnight resumed their shelling of Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region, killing a civilian, local Gov. Oleh Syniehubov reported on Telegram on Saturday. Four civilians were killed over the same period in Ukraine’s front-line Donetsk province in the east, its Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said Saturday.

    — Russian forces overnight launched at least 21 Iranian-made Shahed drones at Ukrainian territory, 17 of which were shot down, Ukraine’s air force said Saturday. One of the drones hit unspecified “infrastructure facilities” in the western Khmelnytskyi region, the update said in a likely reference to the energy facility in the province that was damaged in the nightly strike, according to Ukraine’s energy ministry.

    — Russian shelling overnight wounded three civilians in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, the mayor said Saturday. One person was hospitalized, while the two others were treated on the spot. Multiple fires were reported within the city.

    ___

    Frank Jordans in Berlin, Joanna Kozlowska in London, and Gianfranco Stara in Rome, contributed to this report.

    ___

    Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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  • Germany announces $3 billion military aid package for Ukraine before possible Zelenskyy visit

    Germany announces $3 billion military aid package for Ukraine before possible Zelenskyy visit

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    BERLIN — Germany will provide Ukraine with additional military aid worth more than 2.7 billion euros ($3 billion), including tanks, anti-aircraft systems and ammunition, the government said Saturday.

    The announcement came as preparations were underway in Berlin for a possible first visit to Germany by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy since Russia invaded his country last year.

    Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that Berlin wants to show with the latest package of arms “that Germany is serious in its support” for Ukraine.

    “Germany will provide all the help it can, as long as it takes,” he said.

    While Zelenskyy’s visit on Sunday has yet to be officially confirmed, it would be a sign that relations between Ukraine and Germany have improved markedly after a rocky patch.

    Kyiv has long been suspicious of Germany’s reliance on Russian energy and support for the Nord Stream gas pipelines circumventing Ukraine, defended by then Chancellor Angela Merkel.

    Her successor, Olaf Scholz, agreed to phase out Russian energy imports after the invasion but initially hesitated to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons, fearing Germany could be drawn into the conflict.

    With Washington, Warsaw and London more overtly supportive of Ukraine’s efforts to defend itself, Berlin got the cold diplomatic shoulder from Kyiv.

    German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was disinvited from Ukraine last year,prompting annoyance in Germany, which pointed out that it has given considerable financial aid to Kyiv and taken in more than a million Ukrainian refugees. Scholz eventually visited Kyiv with French President Emmanuel Macron and other leaders in June.

    Though slow to provide military aid, Germany has since become one of the biggest suppliers of arms to Ukraine, crucially giving the green light for deliveries of modern battle tanks like its own Leopard 1 and 2, along with sophisticated anti-aircraft systems needed to fend off drone and missile attacks.

    The new military aid package, first reported by German weekly Der Spiegel, includes 30 Leopard 1 A5 tanks, 20 Marder armored personnel carriers, more than 100 combat vehicles, 18 self-propelled Howitzers, 200 reconnaissance drones, four IRIS-T SLM anti-aircraft systems and other air defense equipment.

    The Ukrainian president would be arriving from Rome, where he will meet with Pope Francis and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni.

    Berlin police confirmed last week that they are preparing for a possible visit by Zelenskyy and have imposed a security cordon throughout much of the capital’s government district Sunday.

    After meeting Scholz and other senior officials at the chancellery, the two leaders are expected to fly to the western city of Aachen, where Zelenskyy would receive the International Charlemagne Prize awarded to him and the people of Ukraine. Organizers say the award recognizes that their resistance against Russia’s invasion is a defense “not just of the sovereignty of their country and the life of its citizens, but also of Europe and European values.”

    Zelenskyy last visited Berlin in July 2021. He also attended the Munich Security Conference the following February, days before Russia launched its full-scale attack on Ukraine.

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  • Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian rockets continue even as hopes for a cease-fire grow

    Israeli airstrikes, Palestinian rockets continue even as hopes for a cease-fire grow

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    GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — The most violent confrontation in months between Israel and Palestinian militants continued for a third straight day on Friday, as Israeli warplanes struck targets in the Gaza Strip and militants fired more rockets at Israel.

    There were no immediate reports of casualties on either side Friday, as foreign mediators pressed ahead with efforts to reach a cease-fire. The past few days of fighting have killed 31 Palestinians in Gaza and a 70-year-old man in central Israel.

    The Israeli military said its warplanes struck Islamic Jihad rocket launchers. Gaza residents reported explosions in farms near the southern city of Rafah. A burst of rocket fire from the Gaza Strip sent air raid sirens wailing near Israel’s southern border Friday, breaking a 12-hour lull that had raised hopes that Egypt, Qatar and the United Nations could soon be able to broker a cease-fire.

    The cross-border exchanges this week have pitted Israel against Islamic Jihad, the second-largest militant group in Gaza after the territory’s Hamas rulers. Since Tuesday, Israel says its strikes have killed five senior Islamic Jihad figures. Islamic Jihad has retaliated with over 800 rockets fire toward densely populated parts of Israel. In that time, Israel’s military said it has used airstrikes to hit at least 215 targets in Gaza, including rocket and mortar launch sites and militants preparing to use them.

    Israeli bombs and shells have destroyed 47 housing units, and damaged 19 so badly they were uninhabitable, leaving 165 Palestinians homeless, Gaza’s housing ministry reported. In addition, nearly 300 homes sustained some damage.

    Palestinians on Friday surveyed the wreckage wrought by the fighting.

    “The dream that we built for our children, for our sons, has ended,” said Belal Bashir, a Palestinian living in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, whose family home was reduced to a heap of rubble in an airstrike late Thursday. He and his family would have been killed in the thundering explosion if they hadn’t ran outside when they heard shouting, he said.

    “We were shocked that our house was targeted,” he added as he pulled his young children’s dolls and blankets from a bomb crater.

    At least 31 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have been killed in the fighting, including seven children and four women, according to the U.N. humanitarian office. At least three of the children were killed by misfired Palestinian rockets, according to the Israeli military and the Palestinian Center for Rights. Over 90 Palestinians have been wounded, the Palestinian Health Ministry reported.

    The civilians deaths have drawn condemnation from the Arab world and concern from the United States and Europe. In its past four wars against Hamas, Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of war crimes due to the high civilian death tolls and its use of heavy weapons against the crowded enclave. Israel, in turn, contends that Palestinian militant groups use civilians as human shields by fighting in their midst.

    Hamas, the de facto civilian government with an army of some 30,000 in Gaza, has sought to maintain its truce with Israel while attempting to keep abysmal living conditions in the blockaded enclave from spiraling since a devastating 11-day war in 2021 that killed over 260 Palestinians. The group, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, has sat out this round of fighting — as it did a similar burst of violence last summer. In a sign of restraint, Israel has limited its airstrikes to Islamic Jihad targets.

    Both sides had seemed on the brink of a cease-fire before the eruption of Thursday’s violence. Friday’s relative calm boosted hopes of progress.

    Hamas officials told local media that Egypt was ramping up its diplomatic efforts to stop the fighting through “intensive contacts” with both Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

    Islamic Jihad figures have sent mixed signals about the cease-fire talks. Senior official Ihsan Attaya complained early Friday that the mediators “have been unable to provide us with any guarantees.” A sticking point has been Islamic Jihad’s demands that Israel cease its policy of targeted killings, Attaya said.

    Islamic Jihad political bureau member Mohamad al-Hindi sounded more optimistic. From Cairo, where he traveled Thursday to hash out the details of a possible truce, he told media that he hoped both sides “would reach a cease-fire agreement and honor it today.”

    This week’s battles began when Israel launched, on Tuesday, simultaneous airstrikes that killed three Islamic Jihad commanders along with some of their wives and children as they slept in their homes. Israel said it was retaliating for a barrage of rocket fire launched last week by Islamic Jihad following the death of one of its West Bank members, Khader Adnan, from a hunger strike while in Israeli custody.

    The airstrikes and rockets have shifted the focus of conflict back to Gaza after months of surging violence in the occupied West Bank under Israel’s most right-wing government in history.

    Israel has been carrying out near-nightly arrest raids in the West Bank that have killed 109 Palestinians so far this year — the highest such death toll in two decades. At least half of the dead are affiliated with militant groups, according to a tally by The Associated Press. At least 20 people have been killed in Palestinian attacks targeting Israelis during that time.

    ___

    DeBre reported from Jerusalem

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  • US Abrams tanks for training Ukrainian forces arrive in Germany ahead of schedule

    US Abrams tanks for training Ukrainian forces arrive in Germany ahead of schedule

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    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Abrams tanks needed for training Ukrainian forces have arrived in Germany slightly ahead of schedule and are on their way to the Grafenwoehr Army base where the training will begin in two to three weeks, U.S. officials said Thursday.

    Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee that the U.S. had moved “a number of tanks over into theater” so the Ukrainians could begin training on them. By the time they complete the training, expected to last about 10 weeks, the Abrams tanks currently being built for the Ukrainian forces will be ready, he said.

    A U.S. official said the 31 M1A1 Abrams tanks needed for the training arrived at the port in Bremerhaven, Germany, last weekend and they will get to the base by early this coming week. Their arrival at Grafenwoehr is a couple of weeks ahead of the schedule that was mapped out when military leaders from around Europe and elsewhere met in Germany last month to discuss Ukraine‘s needs for the war against Russia.

    The tanks the U.S. is providing Ukraine are being built to its military’s specifications and will get to Ukraine by early fall, just as the troops are finished with their instruction. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details of the delivery not publicly released.

    The tank training will be the latest and most lethal new layer of combat instruction the U.S. is providing Ukraine’s troops to give them the best chance to overwhelm and punch through Russia’s battle lines. Over the past few months U.S. troops have trained more than 8,800 Ukrainians, including on how to use Stryker and Bradley fighting vehicles and M109 Paladins together on the battlefield. The Bradleys and Strykers are armored and armed vehicles used to ferry troops, and the Paladin is a self-propelled howitzer gun.

    During Thursday’s hearing, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, pressed Austin to move quickly to get the tanks into Ukrainian troops’ hands and onto the battlefield.

    “We are doing everything possible to accelerate the delivery of these tanks, and early fall is a projection,” Austin said.

    Collins and others noted the urgency of the fight in Ukraine, and she told Austin and Army Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to be blunt about Ukraine’s needs. Defense leaders should not let budget concerns dissuade them from seeking more weapons if that’s what Kyiv needs to be successful in a counteroffensive, said Collins, the ranking Republican on the panel.

    “It is critical that the administration provide Ukraine with what it needs in time to defend and take back its sovereign territory,” she said. “We expect the administration not to wait until the 11th hour if the Ukrainians seek more before the end of the fiscal year.”

    Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., noting the broader implications of the war, questioned Milley on the impact a Russian victory could have on China and its deliberations on whether to move to take the self-governing island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims.

    “I think that the Chinese are watching the war between Russia and Ukraine very carefully,” Milley said, adding that if Russian President Vladimir Putin succeeds, “China will learn certain lessons.”

    “It may not be the single decisive point, but I think it will calculate into their decision-making process as to whether or not they attack to seize the island of Taiwan. So I think the outcome of Ukraine is critical to much broader issues than just Ukraine,” Milley said.

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