Ukraine-Russia war live: US to send weapons and equipment to Kyiv ‘this week’ after £76bn aid package approved

On Wednesday, the US Senate approved a £76bn foreign aid packaged that included military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan.

It included £49bn in military aid for Ukraine, which the Pentagon says can start being delivered to the war-torn nation within days. President Joe Biden is expected to sign the legislation into law on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the UK also pledged £500m in new military supplies for Ukraine, including long-range missiles and four million rounds of ammunition.

The United States is set to send military aid to Ukraine this week after Washington approved £49bn in military support for the country.

US president Joe Biden said he would sign the bill into law immediately and America would start sending weapons to Kyiv this week.

“I will sign this bill into law and address the American people as soon as it reaches my desk tomorrow so we can begin sending weapons and equipment to Ukraine this week,” he said.

Upcoming Nato exercises near its border with Finland increase the risk of “military incidents”, the Kremlin warned.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told local RIA state news the drills are “provocative.”

Finland officially joined NATO earlier this month, ditching decades of non-alignment to join the military alliance in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The country shares a 1,340km (832-mile) border with Russia, so its entry, nearly two years after applying, will more than double the size of NATO’s border with the nation.

Ukrainian president Volodymr Zelenskyy said he was “grateful to the United States Senate for approving vital aid to Ukraine today”.

In a social media post on X, he wrote: “I am grateful to the United States Senate for approving vital aid to Ukraine today. I thank Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican Leader Mitch McConnell for their strong leadership in advancing this bipartisan legislation, as well as all US Senators on both sides of the aisle who voted in favor of it.

“This vote reinforces America’s role as a beacon of democracy and the leader of the free world. I am also grateful to all Americans who continue to support Ukraine and recognize that the historical significance of this bill extends beyond politics.”

Russian missiles damaged residential buildings and injured six people in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, early on Wednesday, Governor Oleh Synehubov said on Telegram.

The attack damaged three residential buildings, two offices, three non-residential buildings and a gas pipeline in the central district of the city, according to the governor’s statement.

The city’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, told Ukranian TV that two S-300 missiles were used in the attack but did not cause significant damage to the residential areas of the city.

Western aid will not allow Ukraine to seize the initiative and go back onto the offensive against Russia, a former British army officer warned.

Richard Kemp, who served from 1977 to 2006, said US and UK munitions would let Kyiv stabilise the front line but would not allow them to take back land seized by Moscow.

He warned if Moscow was able to achieve “significant success” by summer, there would be no more appetite for Western spending on Ukraine by the winter.

“While the new aid packages might allow that to be blunted, they will not enable Ukraine to seize the initiative and go back onto the offensive,” Mr Kemp wrote in the Daily Telegraph.