WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Biden announces $425 million in military aid for Ukraine

U.S. President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Wednesday about efforts to surge security assistance to Ukraine and announced a new $425 million military aid package, the White House said.

The security package includes air defense capability, air-to-ground munitions, armored vehicles and critical munitions, the White House said in a statement.

Zelenskiy, writing on Telegram, expressed gratitude to Biden, both parties of Congress and the American people for the new package and said he spoke to Biden about Kyiv's five-point "victory plan," which he presented to parliament on Wednesday.

"I proposed considering the possibility of joint weapons production," he said. "We also discussed the importance of additional training for Ukrainian soldiers."

Ukraine, he said, thanked the United States "for its readiness to help Ukraine strengthen its positions to compel Russia towards honest diplomacy."

RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Moscow responds to Zelensky’s ‘victory plan’

Moscow has dismissed Vladimir Zelensky’s much-touted eight-point ‘victory plan’ as nothing but a “plan for the misfortune of Ukraine,”Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said in a statement.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader unveiled his long-promised proposal to Western supporters during an extraordinary parliamentary session. Zelensky laid out five points, including an immediate invitation to join NATO, permission to use Western long-range weapons to strike targets deep in Russia, and continued incursions into the neighboring country’s territory. A further three points remain classified but have supposedly been shared with Kiev’s backers.

Spokeswoman Zakharova responded to the five points of Zelensky’s plan at a press conference, calling them nothing more than a “set of incoherent slogans” and “bloody foam on the lips of a neo-Nazi killer.”

Commenting on Kiev’s “hysteria” about being invited into NATO, she alleged that the only place the West sees for Ukraine in its “security architecture” is “in a coffin and Ukrainian citizens in graves.”

“That is why they brought this clown to power, who was supposed to finish off Ukraine as a state and kill as many Ukrainians as possible,” Zakharova said.

She also questioned Zelensky’s intent to strengthen Ukrainian defenses by “targeted operations in specific places.” The spokeswoman asked why the Ukrainian leader shied away from naming the places and said that Kiev has been “pushing NATO members towards a direct conflict”with Russia by insisting on obtaining permission to use long-range weapons on Russian territory.

“Taken together, all of those points and secret sub-points are not a ‘plan’ for Zelensky’s victory. This is a plan for the misfortune of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people,” Zakharova surmised, adding that it is aimed at “yet another extortion of money and a presentation of [Kiev’s] terrorist capabilities.”

“Today, Zelensky has finally proven to everyone that he hates Ukrainians to such an extent that can be described as Ukrainophobia,” Zakharova concluded.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has responded to Zelensky’s plan by calling it nothing more than a roadmap for the continuation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. He insisted that the only way to achieve peace was for the Ukrainian leader to “sober up” and “reflect on the causes which have led to the Ukraine conflict.”

Reuters/RT