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President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday after a deluge of Russian missiles focused cities throughout Ukraine, condemning the strikes and pledging continued US safety help “including advanced air defense systems.”
During the decision, a White House assertion stated, Biden “expressed his condemnation of Russia’s missile strikes across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, and conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks. President Biden pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.”
The White House didn’t specify which air defense methods Biden mentioned with Zelensky, however the United States beforehand dedicated to offering Ukraine with National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems. NASAMS could be able to participating Russian cruise missiles.
Biden, the assertion stated, “also underscored his ongoing engagement with allies and partners to continue imposing costs on Russia, holding Russia accountable for its war crimes and atrocities, and providing Ukraine with security, economic, and humanitarian assistance.”
Asked whether or not the assaults of the previous 24 hours would change the calculus on what the US would take into account providing Ukraine, a senior administration official stated that they had no bulletins to make on that entrance, however that the US will proceed to assist present Ukraine with short- and long-range air defense methods, because it has previously.
And a second senior administration official supplied the next abstract of air defense help supplied to Ukraine from the US: “We have transferred more than 1,400 Stinger anti-air systems to Ukraine, as well as air surveillance and multi-mission radars. We enabled our Allies to transfer air defense systems of their own to Ukraine – including Slovakia’s transfer of a critical S-300 system in April. And in August, President Biden announced a new assistance package for Ukraine that included orders for 8 new NASAMS—National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems. We will continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself.”
As of a Department of Defense briefing in late September, the US had but to ship NASAMS to Ukraine. At the time, Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder stated two methods had been anticipated to be delivered within the subsequent two months, with the remaining six to reach at an undetermined date.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken additionally spoke with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday to reiterate US assist following the lethal strikes. Biden is predicted on Tuesday to affix an emergency video convention with G7 leaders throughout which Zelensky is predicted to handle the group.
Russia launched a complete of 84 cruise missiles towards targets throughout Ukraine on Monday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine stated in a Facebook publish.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stated the strikes had been a response to what he described as acts of “terrorism” by Kyiv. Specifically, he referred to Saturday’s explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking Russia and Crimea – which he blamed on Ukraine’s “special services” – and an inventory of different alleged “crimes.”
Kuleba stated that such claims had been “nonsense,” writing in a tweet, “Putin is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favor.” And Ukraine’s defense intelligence company claimed in a press release on Monday that Moscow had been planning a “massive” missile assault on Ukraine since early final week.
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, additionally lately stated he thinks Moscow ought to intention for the “complete dismantling” of Zelensky’s “regime.”
In a publish on Telegram, Medvedev – who served as President of Russia between 2008 and 2012 – stated: “The Ukrainian state in its current configuration … will pose a constant, direct and clear threat to Russia. Therefore, in addition to protecting our people and protecting the borders of the country, the goal of our future actions, in my opinion, should be the complete dismantling of the political regime of Ukraine.”
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, stated Monday that there’ll possible be extra assist packages for Ukraine introduced “in the very near future.”
“It’s clear that he’s feeling the pressure both at home and overseas, and how he reacts to that only he can say,” Kirby advised CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “Erin Burnett OutFront.”
Kirby added: “He understands well that he’s not doing well on the battlefield.”
Asked if he thinks such strikes make it extra possible Putin would resort to nuclear weapons, Kirby stated that the US has seen nothing new.
“We continue to monitor his nuclear capabilities, Kate, best we can. And what I can tell you today is that we just don’t see any indications that Mr. Putin has made a decision to use weapons of mass destruction or even nuclear weapons. And we’ve seen nothing, Kate, that would give us cause to change our own deterrent posture,” Kirby stated.
The point out of air defense system comes amid a sequence of escalations within the struggle.
Putin final month delivered a speech asserting the partial mobilization of some 300,000 reservists following profitable Ukrainian counterattacks, elevating the specter of nuclear weapons if he deemed the “territorial integrity” of Russia to be jeopardized. And the Russian president lately announced the annexation of 4 Ukrainian areas in defiance of worldwide regulation.
Last week, Biden delivered a stark warning in regards to the risks of Putin’s nuclear threats, invoking the prospect of “Armageddon.” But multiple US officials have said the remark was not primarily based on any new intelligence about Putin’s intentions or adjustments in Russia’s nuclear posture.
This story has been up to date with extra info Monday.
