U.S. to give additional $250 million in military aid to Ukraine:
By RFE/RL
The U.S. Department of Defense says it plans to provide $250 million to enhance Ukraine’s military capabilities as the nation continues to battle Russia-backed separatists in its eastern regions.
The latest tranche of assistance will strengthen Ukraine's naval and ground forces through additional training and provision of weapons, the Pentagon said in a statement on June 18.
The list of weapons includes sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, counterartillery radars, and night-vision equipment among other items, the statement said.
The new tranche will bring total U.S. military support to Ukraine since 2014 to $1.5 billion.
Fighting between government forces and the separatists has killed some 13,000 people since the conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine in April 2014, shortly after Russia seized control of the country’s Crimean Peninsula.
Russia has provided military, economic, and political support to the separatist fighters who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Western nations have imposed sanctions on Russia for its support to the militants and its seizure of Crimea.
The United States "remains committed to helping Ukraine," the Department of Defense said. adding that it would help Kyiv "strengthen civilian control of the military, promote command and control reforms, enhance transparency and accountability in acquisition and budgeting, and advance defense industry reforms."
"These reforms will bolster Ukraine's ability to defend its territorial integrity in support of a secure, prosperous, democratic, and free Ukraine," it said.
Merkel backs extending Russia sanctions:
By RFE/RL
German Chancellor Angela Merkel has expressed her country's backing for extending sanctions against Russia as she met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Berlin.
Speaking at a joint press conference on June 18, Merkel said that the sanctions imposed on Russia over its seizure of Ukraine's Crimea region and its support for separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine must remain in place until Kyiv’s sovereignty is restored there.
"As long as there is no progress on this front, the sanctions cannot be lifted, and the sanctions related to Crimea can only be lifted if Crimea returns to Ukraine," she said.
The EU, the United States, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia over Moscow's seizure of the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for the separatists holding parts of the eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in a conflict that has killed some 13,000 people since April 2014.
Ahead of his Berlin visit, Zelenskiy told Germany's Bild newspaper that the sanctions against Russia should be "expanded."
Sanctions "are the only means to liberate the occupied region and restore our territorial integrity and sovereignty and return them to our people," he said, adding: "If this does not work, the mechanism must be expanded."
On June 17, during a visit to Paris, where he met with French President Emmanuel Macron, Zelenskiy called for European Union countries not to ease up their "diplomatic and sanctions' pressure" on Moscow.
A comic actor with no previous political experience, Zelenskiy beat incumbent Petro Poroshenko by a large margin in an April 21 presidential runoff.
His trips to Paris and Berlin were his first official visits to France and Germany since he was inaugurated as president on May 20.
As she welcomed Zelenskiy in Germany, Merkel was seen visibly trembling, raising concerns about the chancellor’s health.
When asked about it at the later press conference, Merkel said, "I've drunk at least three glasses of water, which I apparently needed, and now I'm doing very well."
"She was totally safe," Zelenskiy added.
With reporting by DW and dpa
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK TO ENLARGE.)
