US President Joe Biden announced this Thursday a new military aid package worth 8 billion dollars (7.16 billion euros) to “help Ukraine win the war” against Russia, but made no reference to the desired authorization to use Western-supplied long-range missiles to attack Russian territory.
The new aid package was announced hours before the meeting between Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, and includes 5.5 billion in short-term direct military assistance and another 2.4 billion under the Relief Initiative to Ukraine, intended to purchase weapons and ammunition from external suppliers to send to Kiev.
The big news in this military aid package, which Biden announced as “a great boost to victory” is the JSOW guided missile, with a range of 130 kilometers, which will allow Ukrainian forces to more safely attack enemy supply lines. The package also includes an additional Patriot missile battery and ammunition for the HIMARS systems, among others, as well as a commitment to train more Ukrainian pilots for the F16 fighters provided by the allies to Kiev.Biden also announced that he will convene a high-level meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine, which brings together more than 50 countries, in Germany in October to discuss continued aid to Kiev.
Changing Russian nuclear doctrine “is a clear warning to the West”
The Kremlin stressed this Thursday that the change in Russian nuclear doctrine announced by Vladimir Putin on Wednesday “is a clear warning to the West”. “It is a signal to alert these countries to the consequences of participating in an attack against Russia, not necessarily nuclear,” said Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
According to Putin, Russia will now be able to respond with nuclear weapons in the event of a conventional attack against its territory, and that nuclear powers that support such an attack will be considered as participants, in a veiled threat that US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, denounced as “completely irresponsible”.
Source: www.cmjornal.pt
