Ukraine Suffers One of Its Roughest Days of War So Far

Ukraine secured fresh military aid from the U.S. on Wednesday, but the good news for Kyiv has been tempered by multiple Russian advances across hundreds of miles of front-line territory.

Washington will give Kyiv a further $2 billion in financing for its military, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, said during a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, on Wednesday. Part of the funding will go into developing Ukraine’s domestic military production, Blinken said.

In late April, U.S. lawmakers passed a significant new military aid package for Ukraine after long months of political infighting. President Joe Biden then announced $1 billion in aid “to urgently meet Ukraine’s critical security and defense needs,” followed last week by another package worth $400 million.

U.S. aid, including the more than $60 billion passed last month, is coming at a “critical time” for Ukraine, Blinken said on Wednesday. “We’re rushing ammunition, armored vehicles, missiles, air defenses,” Blinken added. Pledged U.S. aid is now reaching Ukraine’s soldiers, the Pentagon said on Monday.

But before the bulk of the resources arrives, Russia has opened up a new front in the war, attacking across the border into Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region—a deliberate move to overstretch Kyiv, Ukrainian officials and Western analysts say. Kyiv, already contending with fatigue and scarce ammunition supplies, rushed to move troops and weapons from the eastern and southern front lines further north.

On Wednesday, Russia said its forces had claimed another two villages north of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv. The settlements of Hlyboke and Lukyantsy were seized by Russia’s northern group of troops, Moscow said in a statement. Newsweek has contacted the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine said late on Tuesday that it had pulled some of its troops from positions in the border city of Vovchansk. In an updated statement on Wednesday afternoon, the General Staff said its forces had “partially expelled” Russian fighters from Vovchansk. Dmytro Lazutkin, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, said small groups of Russian infantry had entered the settlement and were trying to establish a “foothold” in the north of the city.

Russia’s Defense Ministry then said its forces had captured Robotyne, one of a smattering of villages in the southern Zaporizhzhia region that Kyiv retook from Russian control in its 2023 counteroffensive.

Ukraine’s military said on Wednesday that Russia was trying to advance around Robotyne, and 15 “combat clashes” had taken place close to the settlement since the start of the day.

Yet Ukraine’s military also reported on Wednesday afternoon local time that much of the heaviest fighting was taking place in the eastern Donetsk region, to the west of the former Ukrainian stronghold city of Avdiivka.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has canceled upcoming international visits, a presidential spokesperson said on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian leader has “instructed that all international events involving him scheduled for the coming days be postponed and new dates coordinated,” spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov said in a statement on Wednesday. Zelensky was expected to travel to Spain and Portugal this week.