The U.S. decision to stop sharing military intelligence with Ukraine hobbles its ability to strike and defend against the Russian army. That increases the pressure on it to accept a peace deal being pushed by the Trump administration. Earlier in the week, the U.S. suspended weapons shipments — a severe blow, but one that experts said Ukraine could withstand for at least a few months. The suspension of intelligence has a more immediate impact, disrupting Ukraine's ability to track and target Russian troops, tanks and ships. U.S. officials have suggested that the withdrawal of intelligence-sharing might only be a temporary measure to expedite truce negotiations.
The U.S. is expected to announce Tuesday it is sending an additional $150 million in critically needed munitions to Ukraine. This is according to two U.S. officials who spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity to provide details that have not yet been made public. The latest military aid package comes as Russia is accusing Ukraine of using U.S.-provided munitions to strike inside Russia or Russian-held territory. On Monday, Russia summoned the American ambassador to protest what it says was the use of U.S.-made advanced missiles in a Ukrainian attack on Crimea that reportedly killed four people and wounded more than 150. Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
By CHRIS MEGERIAN, SYLVIE CORBET and ZEKE MILLER Associated Press
President Joe Biden has for the first time publicly apologized to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for a monthslong congressional holdup in American military assistance that let Russia make battlefield gains. Biden and Zelenskyy met Friday in France, where they attended ceremonies marking the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings. Biden told Zelenskyy he apologized to the Ukrainian people for the weeks of not knowing if more assistance would come while Congress waited six months before sending him a $61 billion military aid package. The Democrat insists Americans stand by Ukraine. Biden says: "We're still in. Completely. Thoroughly." Zelenskyy has appealed for bipartisan U.S. support "like it was during World War II."
Ukraine has used U.S weapons to attack inside Russia in recent days. That's according to a U.S. senator and a Western official familiar with the matter. The weapons were used under recently approved guidance from President Joe Biden allowing American arms to be used to strike inside Russia for the limited purpose of defending Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city. Republican Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota, a member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, confirmed the strikes with U.S. weapons, but didn't say how he was briefed. Ukrainian officials had stepped up calls on the U.S. to allow Kyiv's forces to defend themselves against attacks originating from Russian territory.
