Live: US announces 600m arms package for Ukraine to boost momentum

Issued on: 16/09/2022 – 05:19

03:30am: US sends new military aid to Ukraine

US President Joe Biden announced a new $600 million arms package to help the Ukrainian military battle Russia, according to a White House memo sent to the State Department on Thursday.

Biden authorised the assistance using his Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to sanction the transfer of excess weapons from U.S. stocks.

The package includes High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), night vision goggles, claymore mines, mine clearing equipment, 105mm artillery rounds and 155mm precision guided artillery rounds, the Pentagon said.

10:39pm: Zelensky: Ukrainians found a mass grave in recaptured city of Izium

Ukrainian authorities have found a mass grave of more than 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium that was recaptured from Russian forces, a regional police official said on Thursday, adding some of the people had been killed by shelling and air strikes.

Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for Kharkiv region, told Sky News that forensic investigations would be carried out on every body.

“I can say it is one of the largest burial sites in a big town in liberated (areas)… 440 bodies were buried in one place,” Bolvinov said.

“Some died because of artillery fire … some died because of air strikes,” he said. Thousands of Russian troops fled Izium at the weekend. Read full story

President Volodymyr Zelensky put the blame on Russia and likened the discovery to what happened in Bucha, on the outskirts of the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the late February invasion by Russian forces. Ukraine and its Western allies have accused the Russian forces of perpetrating war crimes there.

“Russia is leaving death behind it everywhere and must be held responsible,” Zelensky said in a video address.

10:07pm: US to soon announce new $600 million arms package for Ukraine

The US will soon announce a new $600 million arms package for Ukraine to help the Ukrainian military battle Russia, US officials said on Thursday.

9:23pm: EU chief von der Leyen says Putin should face ICC over war crimes 

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said in an interview Thursday she wants Russian President Vladimir Putin to face the International Criminal Court over war crimes in Ukraine. 

“That Putin must lose this war and must face up to his actions, that is important to me,” she told the TV channel of German news outlet Bild.

There was no doubt that war crimes had been committed in Ukraine, said von der Leyen, who also visited Kyiv Thursday.

“Therefore we support the collection of evidence” with a view to possible proceedings at the International Criminal Court, she said.

“That is the basis of our international legal system, that we punish these crimes. And ultimately, Putin is responsible.”

9:04pm: US hits more Russians with sanctions over Ukraine

The Biden administration on Thursday slapped sanctions on dozens of Russian and Ukrainian officials and a number of Russian companies for human rights abuses and the theft of Ukrainian grain. 

The State Department said it had imposed sanctions on at least 23 officials and 31 Russian government agencies and firms for their roles in supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine. Some, but not all, of those penalised were already subject to US sanctions, which include asset freezes and a ban on Americans conducting business with them.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and REUTERS)