War in Ukraine: fighting intensifies in the east, Biden speeds up arms deliveries

Fighting intensified Monday in southern and eastern Ukraine, where U.S. arms shipments are expected to accelerate after Joe Biden reactivated an iconic World War II device.

 

Missiles targeted the Odessa region, with the Ukrainian army counting seven strikes and deploring one death and five injuries. The President of the European Council, Charles Michel, on a surprise visit to this large southern city, was forced to take cover. In addition, very intense battles were taking place around Roubijné and Bilogorivka in the Lugansk region (east), said the governor Serguiï Gaïdaï. The Ukrainians can count on American military aid which has already amounted to some 3.8 billion dollars since the beginning of the conflict.

 

The U.N. Security Council is expected to hold a new public meeting on Thursday on Russia's war with Ukraine, in light of the continuing deterioration of the humanitarian situation, diplomats said Monday. Requested by France and Mexico, the session will be the 16th of the Security Council since the Russian invasion on February 24.

 

In a historically charged response to the May 9 military parade in Moscow, Joe Biden signed legislation Monday to expedite the shipment of military equipment to Ukraine, reactivating an iconic World War II device. Ukrainians are fighting for their lives every day, he told reporters in the Oval Office, adding, This fight is expensive, but giving in to aggression would be even more expensive.

 

Emmanuel Macron warned on Monday that a possible accession of Ukraine to the EU would take decades and proposed in the meantime the entry into a new set, a European political community, which could also welcome countries like the United Kingdom. This idea, which German Chancellor Olaf Scholz considered very interesting during a meeting between the two leaders in Berlin, is however likely to create fears and frustrations among already declared or potential candidates for European membership.