Ukraine updates: Biden reassures Kyiv of US support

President Joe Biden vowed the United States would not abandon Ukraine despite aid being dropped from a deal to avoid a government shutdown, urging Republicans to "stop the games" on funding. 

"I want to assure our American allies, the American people and the people in Ukraine that you can count on our support. We will not walk away," Biden said in an address from the White House.

Biden said there was an "overwhelming sense of urgency" to get Congress to pass a new package of assistance to Ukraine in the days and weeks to come as it battles the Russian invasion.

An 11th-hour deal by Congress late Saturday to avoid a US government shutdown contained no new war-time aid for Ukraine as part of a compromise between Republicans and Democrats.

Biden also suggested that Democrats have made a deal with Republicans on support for Ukraine after the US Congress left aid for Kyiv out of a stopgap government spending bill that averted a shutdown.

Biden, asked at a press conference if he could trust Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy in future deals, responded: "We just made one about Ukraine, so we’ll find out."

The nature of this deal was unclear. Biden also lambasted Republicans for holding up government spending talks. "I'm stick and tired" of the brinkmanship, he said.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has visited Kyiv where, together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, he took part in a ceremony in honour of the fallen defenders.

He also expressed "support to those who are currently defending Ukraine from Russia's unjustified aggression and fight for our common values."

Later, Borrel met with NGOs active in promoting the reform and accountability agenda, as well as with Ukraine's new Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov.

"Ukraine needs more capabilities and needs them faster. We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine," top EU diplomat wrote on Twitter.

On Saturday, Borrell visited the southern Ukranian city of Odesa where he called the Russian attacks on the port city "barbaric."

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedevhas warned that Russia could attack German factories where Taurus cruise missiles are produced, if Berlin supplies Kyiv with the missiles.

In a statement on the messaging platform Telegram, Medvedev spoke of what he described as legitimate targets for Moscow.

"They say this is in accordance with international law," he said, in reference to the supply of Taurus missiles. "Well, in that case, strikes on German factories where these missiles are made would also be in full compliance with international law."

Medvedev also said British soldiers training Ukrainian troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets.

"[This will] turn their instructors into a legal target for our armed forces," Medvedev said, warning that "they will be ruthlessly destroyed. And not as mercenaries, but namely as British NATO specialists."

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said there were no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine.

NATO has announced it was deploying AWACs surveillance aircraft to Lithuania to monitor Russia's military activity near the alliance's borders.

The alliance said the planes would be able to detect aircraft and missiles hundreds of kilometers away.

“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has increased our focus on the security environment in the Baltic Sea region,” said acting NATO Spokesperson Dylan White.

White said the aircraft would serve as a key warning capability for the alliance. 

The first two planes arrived on Thursday. 

Oleksandr Tolokonnikov, a spokesman for the local military administration, said on Sunday that at least four people were injured a Russian attack on the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson.

Tolokonnikov said the airstrikes hit the village of Stanislav, adding that one person was still missing under the rubble. 

Earlier on Sunday, Ukrainian officials have reported another injury in the central region of Cherkasy.

The city of Kryvyi Rih in southcentral Ukraine was also hit, local officials said. The attack there damaged electricity and gas lines, according to the military governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lyssak.

Representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to start talks with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Monday. 

The talks come as the IMF reviews a possible $15.6 billion four-year loan program for Ukraine.

The new program is aimed at helping Kyiv "solve its balance of payments problems and sustain economic and financial stability... restore debt sustainability and promote reforms that support Ukraine's recovery on the path toward EU accession in the post-war period," according to the IMF.

Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko has said that the country was seeing growth of gross domestic product (GDP) after a decline of 29.1% last year. 

Official figures have shown the GDP grew by 19.5% in the second quarter of the year compared with the same period the year before.

The Economy Ministry forecasts an economic growth by about 4% this year and by up to 5% next year.

US support for Ukraine has come under the spotlight as a bill to avert a government shutdown in Washington excluded new funding for Kyiv. 

According to US media, a vote on a separate bill on $24 billion (€22.67 billion) in military assistance to Ukraine could be held next week. 

But the latest move highlighted the increasing difficulty for US President Joe Biden to pass further financial assistance for Ukraine through Congress, as Republicans' resistance gains momentum. 

"We cannot under any circumstances allow American support for Ukraine to be interrupted," Biden said in a statement. 

"I fully expect the [House Speaker] will keep his commitment to the people of Ukraine and secure passage of the support needed to help Ukraine at this critical moment."

In September, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Congress, where he sought to assure lawmakers that his military was winning the war, but stressed that more aid was necessary to keep up the fight.

US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican pressured by his conservative peers, had previously taken the stance of "no blank checks" for Ukraine, with the focus being on accountability. 

But most recently, he described the Democratic Senate's approach as putting "Ukraine in front of America." 

US assistance to Ukraine since Russia launched the war in February 2022 amounts to more than $43.9 billion. 

Slovakia's former Prime Minister Robert Fico and his leftist party won the latest parliamentary elections after campaigning on a pro-Russian and anti-US rhetoric.

According to results from 99.2% of the vote, Fico's party led with 23.3%.

The country of 5.5 million people in eastern Europe has been a staunch supporter of neighboring Ukraine, but Fico's victory is feared to pose a strain to the unity in the EU and NATO. 

The former prime minister has been against EU sanctions on Moscow, and he wants to block Kyiv from joining NATO. 

Fico proposes that the West seek a compromise peace deal between Russia and Ukraine instead of arming Kyiv. 

Three cargo ships believed to be carrying 127,000 metric tons of agricultural products departed Ukrainian ports on Sunday, Reuters news agency reported citing the MarineTraffic database. 

The vessels are likely carrying products for China, Spain and Egypt, according to the report. 

If confirmed, they would be the latest ships to depart Black Sea ports via Ukraine's so-called humanitarian corridor, which Kyiv set up after Russia quit a deal allowing the safe passage of Ukrainian agricultural exports. 

Last month, Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said that three cargo ships were heading toward Ukrainian Black Sea ports for further food and steel exports.

Ukraine's Air Forces said on Sunday that its air defense systems shot down 16 out of around 30 drones that Moscow launched on Ukrainian territory overnight.

The central Ukrainian region of Cherkasy was targeted by the attack, with its governor saying at least one person was injured as industrial infrastructure was hit. 

"As a result, fires broke out in warehouses. In particular, where grain was stored," Cherkasy Governor Ihor Taburets said on Telegram, noting that the city of Uman. 

Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukraine's grain infrastructure and export ports since Moscow withdrew from a UN-brokered deal that allowed the safe export of Ukrainian grain.

Separately, Russia said its air defenses shot down four Ukrainian drones over southern and western regions.

One year ago, Russia announced the annexation Ukraine's Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhya regions. Residents in the occupied territories describe how their lives have changed in the past year.

As the leaders of China and Russia prepare to meet in Beijing, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping look like men on a mission. How did they get so close, and what are they trying to achieve? 

Displaced citizens in Ukraine turned to social media to find information and stay connected. A group of media workers is moderating a Facebook group for the occupied Luhansk region to keep the online space safe.

fb/dj (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)