U.S. President, Biden reiterates commitment to supply weapons to Ukrainian forces

United States President, Joe Biden, has reiterated America’s commitment to supply billions in aid and weapons to Ukrainian forces, following Russia’s latest aerial assault on Ukraine.

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Biden, in a statement, denounced Russia’s latest hit, stressing that the attacks “only further reinforce our commitment”.

Biden, Secretary of State- Antony Blinken and leading military officials all spoke out in the wake of the strikes that Russian President, Vladimir Putin, called retaliation for a weekend explosion that damaged a key bridge linking Russia and Crimea, the disputed peninsula Putin annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

On Sunday night, 12 Russian missile strikes hit residential Zaporizhzhia neighborhoods in Ukraine, Ukrainian officials said, and on Monday morning another series of Russian missiles struck civilian targets in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv and other cities.

At least 11 people died and 64 were wounded across eight oblasts and the capital of Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, while power and other critical infrastructure services like energy were interrupted in several cities.

In a statement issued as he was returning to the White House from Delaware, Biden said the missile attacks demonstrate Putin’s “utter brutality” in the “illegal war on the Ukrainian people.”

Biden spoke Monday with Zelenskyy, the White House said later that day; and Biden is expected to attend a virtual meeting on Tuesday of the Group of Seven countries to discuss the situation.

The White House said that in his call with Zelenskyy, Biden “conveyed his condolences to the loved ones of those killed and injured in these senseless attacks” and “pledged to continue providing Ukraine with the support needed to defend itself, including advanced air defense systems.”

In a tweet, however, Zelenskyy said air defenses were critical. He and others in Ukraine have urged the U.S. to institute a so-called no-fly zone to deter Russian air strikes.

But the U.S. believes such a direct step could risk escalating the conflict beyond Ukraine and into a continental if not global war.

The president last week warned of a possible nuclear “Armageddon,” given Putin’s repeated invocations of his country’s arsenal amid Russia’s recent string of defeats in Ukraine.