US unveils $500m military aid for Ukraine as Russia closes in on key city 

The United States will give $500m in military aid to Ukraine as part of an 11th-hour push by outgoing President Joe Biden to bolster the country’s defences before he leaves office early next year.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken unveiled the “significant package of urgently needed weapons and equipment” on Thursday, which will include High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, ammunition, drones and armoured vehicles.

President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory last month could lead to drastic cuts in US military aid for Ukraine, a prospect that has led the current administration to rush through billions of dollars in already authorised assistance before he takes office.

The new assistance followed closely on the heels of a $988m security assistance package and a $725m weapons package announced earlier this month.

After Thursday’s package, Biden will still have access to about $5.6bn of Presidential Drawdown Authority to rush weapons from US stocks to the front lines without congressional approval.

National Security spokesman John Kirby said on Thursday that Biden would “continue to provide additional packages right up to the end of this administration”.

The aid comes at a critical stage of the war, with Moscow’s troops closing in on the key city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region after a months-long push.

Ukraine’s military said in recent days that Russian troops destroyed or captured several Ukrainian positions near the city.

The fall of Pokrovsk, an important logistics centre for the Ukrainian military, would be one of Ukraine’s biggest military losses in months.

In parallel, Ukraine’s air force reported on Friday that Russia had launched a massive barrage of missiles and drones at its energy facilities during the morning rush hour, with power company Yasno reporting that around a half of its 3.5 million consumers were left without power.

Russia’s defence ministry, cited by Russian state news agency Interfax, said on Friday that it had carried out the large-scale assault – the 12th this year targeting the power grid – in retaliation for this week’s Ukrainian attack on a military airfield in the southern Rostov region using long-range Army Tactical Missile System missiles supplied by the US.

Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Thursday that he had discussed with French President Emmanuel Macron the possibility of stationing foreign troops in Ukraine in case of a ceasefire.

During a visit to Warsaw, Macron called for a path out of Russia’s war in Ukraine taking into account the interests of both Kyiv and the European Union, saying the former’s sovereignty and the latter’s security were at stake.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on Thursday said, “We need peace in Ukraine in order to have peacekeeping missions.

“For that we need Russia to stop shelling, which they are not doing,” she added, before a meeting of foreign ministers in Berlin. “Before that, we have nothing to talk about.”