Foreign ministers of several European Union nations gathered in Kyiv in a meeting that the bloc’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, lauded as “historic.” The event culminated in Borrell’s proposing up to 5 billion euros, or about $5.2 billion, in additional aid to Ukraine.
It was a stark contrast from recent developments in Washington, where Congress over the weekend passed a short-term funding bill stripped of additional aid for Ukraine to avert a government shutdown. President Biden has sought to reassure Kyiv, saying at a Cabinet meeting: “We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted. Too many lives are at stake, too many children, too many people,” CNN reported.
Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.
The meeting in Kyiv marked the first time E.U. foreign ministers gathered outside of E.U. territory and in a country at war, Borrell said at a news conference. “By coming to Kyiv, the European Union’s foreign ministers sent a strong message of solidarity and support to Ukraine in the face of this unjust and illegitimate war,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke with the foreign ministers about Ukraine’s hopes to join the European Union. “We will implement all recommendations,” Zelensky said, according to an account from the Ukrainian president’s office, referring to seven recommendations that Ukraine received for the start of negotiations for E.U. membership. In his nightly address, Zelensky called Ukraine “a leader in protecting the very foundations on which European unity rests.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba expressed confidence that U.S. lawmakers will support Kyiv’s war effort despite the lack of aid in the U.S. government’s latest short-term funding bill. “We are now working with both sides of the Congress to make sure that it does not repeat again,” he said. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) were among the Republican leaders who signaled during television interviews that more aid is in the pipeline.
At least two people were killed and seven others were injured in attacks on the region of Kherson, its governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram early Tuesday. He said the strikes targeted populated residential areas and educational institutions, among others.
Russia has no current plans to mobilize more troops in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Tuesday. “In the general staff, there are no plans for an additional mobilization,” he told state media. Russia’s “partial mobilization” last year triggered a mass exodus of fighting-age men, with hundreds of thousands fleeing the country, The Washington Post reported at the time.
The city of Kharkiv is planning to build Ukraine’s first underground school to protect against missile threats, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on Telegram. The northeastern Ukrainian city has already put together 60 classrooms inside its subway stations ahead of the school year, Terekhov said, allowing more than 1,000 children to continue their studies underground.
Poland delivered its first batch of refurbished Leopard tanks to Ukraine, the Polish Armaments Group (PGZ) announced on social media. The group, an industrial partner of the Polish Armed Forces, also said it is working on repairing more tanks for Kyiv.
Germany said it provided Ukraine with thousands of additional rounds of ammunition and several vehicles, including two mine-clearing tanks, 14 tracked all-terrain vehicles and 12 semitrailers. Denmark also pledged an additional $14 million in ammunition for Ukraine.
Mexico’s president called U.S. financial aid to Ukraine “irrational.” President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told a news conference urged Washington to send resources to help with the economic development of Latin America and to deal with migration issues instead.
Analysis from our correspondents
The European officials in Kyiv and their Ukrainian counterparts wanted to show the world — and Russia, in particular — that their unity was intact, Ishaan Tharoor writes.