It is 3 in the morning in Kyiv. This is what you need to know:
Police officers and forensic personnel catalog 58 bodies of civilians killed in and around Bucha before being transported to the morgue at a cemetery on April 6, 2022 in Bucha, Ukraine.
US President Joe Biden told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday that the United States would send weapons, ammunition and other security aid worth an additional $800 million.
The new equipment includes “artillery systems, artillery shells and armored personnel carriers,” Biden’s statement said.
The European Union also approved an additional 500 million euros ($544 million) in military equipment aid for Ukraine’s Armed Forces on Wednesday, according to a press release from the European Council of the European Union.
The additional 500 million euros brings the total European Union financial assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces to 1.5 billion euros, according to the statement.
Here are more of the latest headlines from the Russia-Ukraine conflict:
White House: Biden declaring “genocide” in Ukraine will not change policy and should not confuse world leaders: US President Biden’s statement that genocide is taking place in Ukraine will not change US policy and should not confuse other world leaders, the White House insisted on Wednesday. Biden made the comment as observers gain greater access to the devastated areas of Ukraine, speaking of “what we all see, what he feels is crystal clear in terms of the atrocities taking place on the ground,” the statement said. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
She spoke a day after Biden made the comment in Iowa, during a speech about ethanol and then more directly. Psaki said that she would continue the legal process to determine if the genocide was underway. But she said that Biden was expressing her views as president of the United States, not just a personal position. “He is the president and we are here to implement his views,” she said.
The United States is likely to determine that genocide has been committed in Ukraine, a State Department official says: A senior US State Department official said Wednesday that the United States is likely to eventually determine that genocide has been committed in Ukraine. In an interview with CNN Newsroom, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland said that US President Joe Biden “spoke from the heart when he called what we are seeing in Ukraine genocide by the Federation.” Russia and its forces.
Nuland said the United States has “an evidence-gathering process over time” to make a formal determination of genocide by the government.
Russia announces retaliatory sanctions against 398 members of the US Congress: Russia said on Wednesday it had imposed sanctions on 398 members of the US Congress in retaliation against Washington’s blacklisting of hundreds of Russian lawmakers last month. On March 24, the US Treasury Department announced sanctions against 328 members of the 450-seat Russian State Duma, the bottom tier of Russia’s two-tier parliament.
The Russian Army Threatens To Attack Ukrainian “Decision-Making Centers”: The Russian military threatened in a statement Wednesday to attack Ukrainian “decision centers,” including those in the Ukrainian capital, in response to what Russia says are “sabotage attempts and attacks” on Russian territory.
“We see sabotage attempts and attacks by Ukrainian troops against objects on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said in a statement. “If these cases continue, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation will attack decision-making centers, including in Kyiv, from which the Russian military has so far refrained,” he warned.
Earlier this month, Russia accused Ukraine of attacking a fuel depot inside Russian territory with a helicopter. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has neither confirmed nor denied the attack.
The US military is looking at options to train Ukrainians on Switchblade drones and other systems: The Pentagon is examining options for how it can train more Ukrainian forces to use the Switchblade drones the US is providing to the Ukrainian military, according to a senior defense official.
Future training could occur with US troops that have been deployed to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank in recent months amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, the official told reporters on Wednesday.
Russia could relaunch the offensive to “conquer” the Donbas region in a few days, says the French military spokesman: The Russian military is potentially preparing for a “large-scale offensive” in eastern Ukraine in the coming days, French military spokesman Colonel Pascal Lanni said.
“Within the next few days, perhaps 10 days or so, Russia could relaunch its efforts with a full-scale offensive in the east and south to conquer the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. […] or even reach the [río Dnipro ] if your capabilities allow it,” Lanni told reporters. He also noted that “there was no significant progress at this stage in terms of territorial gains for the Russian forces on the eastern front.”