Kiev [Ukraine], January 26: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday that US military assistance to Kiev has not been affected by the State Department's foreign aid freeze.
US media reported on Friday that the State Department in Washington had ordered a 90-day halt to most foreign aid in accordance with an executive order issued by President Donald Trump.
The reports, citing State Department officials, said the ban covered aid that has already been previously authorized, but includes exemptions for Israel and Egypt.
They said it appeared that the freeze includes funding for key allies such as Ukraine.
Zelensky said the suspended aid concerns humanitarian support. "I am focused on military aid. It has not been stopped," he told the UNIAN news agency.
The United States has been Kiev's biggest supporter in its defence against Russia's full- scale invasion since February 2022.
Last year, the US Congress approved an aid package worth nearly $61 billion for Ukraine. Most of the money was disbursed by the end of Joe Biden's term in office, but not all of it.
Meanwhile, Zelensky on Saturday offered to deliver coal to neighbouring Moldova as its breakaway region of Transnistria grapples with a severe energy crisis.
"We will give them coal, we are ready to talk about a low price or even give it for free, if we get electricity from the coal in return," said Zelensky during a meeting with Moldovan President Maia Sandu, according to Ukrainian media.
Ukraine is suffering from a scarcity of electricity supply due to systematic Russian attacks on the country's grid.
Moldova is also in distress after Moscow stopped natural gas deliveries at the start of the year.
Moscow blamed Moldova's pro-EU government for the cut-off, accusing it of not paying its debts. Sandu, however, accuses Russian President Vladimir Putin of trying to generate instability in Moldova by using energy as a weapon.
Meanwhile, in the war front Russian troops have achieved a decisive breakthrough in the fierce fighting for the town of Velyka Novosilka in eastern Ukraine, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said on Friday.
With massive artillery support, the units managed to punch through the Ukrainian defence lines and cut off some of the Ukrainian forces, the ministry said.
But a day earlier a Ukrainian army spokesman acknowledged the situation was difficult and that the troops risked being encircled by Russian forces.
Before the war, Velyka Novosilka was a small town with around 5,300 inhabitants. Russian troops stationed to the north and south have been fighting their way towards the centre.
Velyka Novosilka is in the Donetsk region, where Russia has captured several cities over the past year - including Avdiivka, Vuhledar and, most recently, Kurakhove - as well as several smaller settlements.
Ukraine used a swarm of drones to attack numerous areas in Russia in the early hours of Friday, setting fire to an oil refinery in Ryazan, Russian media reported.
A neighbouring heating plant in the city, which is 200 kilometres south-east of Moscow, was also hit, the reports said. Videos posted on Russian Telegram channels showed the two fires. The civil defence force spoke of a fire in an industrial building.
Russia's Defence Ministry announced that 127 Ukrainian combat drones were shot down. The number could not be verified. Drones were also shot down in the area surrounding the capital Moscow, according to Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
The area around St Petersburg further north was also affected. There were no reports of casualties or damage.
The bodies of 757 Ukrainian soldiers have been repatriated by the Russian side, the responsible coordination staff announced in Kiev on Friday.
Source: Ǫatar Tribune
