Russia accused of missile strike on Kyiv during UN secretary general’s visit

Ukraine accused Russia of launching a missile strike on its capital during a visit from UN secretary general António Guterres, as the US unveiled plans to send $33 billion in military and other aid to Kyiv despite Kremlin warnings that such arms supplies threaten European security.

Kyiv officials said two buildings in the city were hit on Thursday evening in what the Ukrainian foreign minister called a “heinous act of barbarism [with which] Russia demonstrates once again its attitude towards Ukraine, Europe and the world”. He said Mr Guterres and Bulgarian prime minister Kiril Petkov were in Kyiv at the time.

The UN chief met Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy and called for civilians to be evacuated from the southern port of Mariupol, which has been under Russian siege and bombardment for two months. The UN said Russian president Vladimir Putin agreed “in principle” to such an evacuation when he met Mr Guterres on Tuesday.

Kyiv says Russia continues to bomb the Azovstal metal works in Mariupol where Ukrainian troops and hundreds of civilians are holed up, as it continues a major offensive to seize all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.

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Heavy weapons

The West is increasing delivery of heavy weapons to Ukraine to help it withstand the Russian onslaught, and US president Joe Biden said he would ask Congress for $33 billion (€31.3 billion) in new funding for Ukraine – including $20.4 billion (€19.4 billion) in military aid.

“We need this Bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom. And our Nato allies, our EU partners – they’re going to pay their fair share of the costs as well,” Mr Biden said.

“The cost of this fight is not cheap, but caving to aggression is going to be more costly if we allow it to happen. We either back the Ukrainian people as they defend their country or we stand by as the Russians continue their atrocities and aggression in Ukraine.”

After suffering heavy military losses in Ukraine, Russia increasingly portrays it as the battlefield for a “proxy” war waged by the West against the Kremlin, but Mr Biden insisted that the US and its allies are “not attacking Russia; we’re helping Ukraine defend itself”.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “the tendency to pump weapons . . . into Ukraine and other countries are actions that threaten the security of the continent and provoke instability”.

Lasting rift

Warning of a lasting rift in EU-Russian relations, Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney said trust had been “fundamentally broken” and “everyone knows we are being lied to”.

Speaking in Washington, Mr Coveney also said Ireland was likely to increase its annual defence spending by at least €500 million in the coming years, a 50 per cent increase on current levels.

He said this would be “a minimum we need to be looking at” and he would bring specific proposals to the Cabinet in June.

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine, which Russia began on February 24th, could “drag on and last for months and years”, adding that the alliance was preparing long-term support to help Kyiv “move from old Soviet-era equipment to more modern Nato-standard weapons and systems.”

After Russia halted gas flow to Poland and Bulgaria for refusing to pay for supplies in roubles, EU officials warned that any firm that complied with Moscow’s demand to buy energy via a rouble-denominated bank account would be in breach of the bloc’s sanctions.