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Agence France-Presse

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday pressed US House Speaker Mike Johnson to help deliver “vital” military aid to Kyiv after a recent escalation in Russian attacks.
A US$60 billion support package has been stalled in the US Congress since last year, delaying the delivery of crucial weapons and ammunition to Ukrainian troops on the front lines.
“I briefed Speaker Johnson on the battlefield situation, specifically the dramatic increase in Russia’s air terror,” Zelensky said he told Johnson during a phone call on Thursday.
“In this situation, quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital,” he said in a readout of the call posted on Telegram.
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Johnson, who as Speaker controls which bills get brought to a vote in the House of Representatives, said last week he was looking at a “number of avenues” regarding aid to Ukraine.
The US$60 billion package has already been approved by the Senate.
Moscow launched last Friday its largest aerial attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure of the two-year war.
Zelensky said Russia fired 190 missiles, 140 drones and 700 guided aerial bombs at Ukrainian territory in total last week.
The attacks saw power cut to more than a million homes and took the country’s largest hydroelectric power plant offline.

Washington has been Kyiv’s key military backer since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
But the latest major aid package has been held up by wrangling in the Republican Party over US President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Zelensky has repeatedly said delays to aid cost Ukrainian lives and territory on the battlefield.
Ukrainian soldiers have been forced to ration ammunition amid uncertainty over when the crucial next deliveries will arrive.


Meanwhile, Russian forces attacked infrastructure in the Kamianske district near the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, injuring one person, the regional governor said early on Friday morning.
Moscow has regained the initiative on the battlefield. Last month its forces made their first significant territorial gain in nine months with the capture of Avdiivka, a frontline town close to the Russian-held stronghold of Donetsk.
On Thursday a Russian military plane crashed into the sea off Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula, the Moscow-installed governor of the city of Sevastopol said.
“A military plane has fallen into the sea,” Mikhail Razvozhayev said in a post on Telegram, without giving the cause.
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Footage on social media showed a plane in flames falling out of the sky.
Sevastopol, the historic headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, sits on the southern tip of Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
The region has come under frequent Ukrainian attack during the two-year conflict.
“The pilot ejected. He was picked up by rescuers from the Sevastopol Rescue Service at a distance of 200 metres from the shore. His life is not in danger,” Razvozhayev added.
Other videos appeared to show the pilot drifting down in a parachute after ejecting.
Additional reporting by Reuters


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Russia & Central Asia

A US$60 billion support package has been stalled in US Congress since last year, delaying delivery of crucial weapons and ammunition to Ukraine
Moscow last week launched its largest aerial attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure of the two-year war


‘Quick passage of US aid to Ukraine by Congress is vital,’ Ukrainian president told Mike Johnson. A US$60 billion support package has been stalled in US Congress since last year.
