International
The US unblocks $6 billion in aid to Ukraine for Patriot missiles and drones
The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, announced on Friday that he will release $6 billion in military aid to Ukraine to increase Kiev’s access to Patriot missiles and drones that allow us to respond to Russian advances on the eastern front.
Austin made this announcement at a press conference at the close of a meeting of Ramstein’s group, in which the United States confirmed that the first 1 billion new military aid to Ukraine is on its way.
The head of the Pentagon assured that the United States will urgently send ammunition for HIMARS batteries to Ukraine, which allows Russian positions to be attacked far from the front, 155-millimeter advanced artillery ammunition and air defense systems in armored vehicles.
“I am delighted to be able to announce an additional $6 billion commitment for Ukraine’s security assistance initiative. That will allow us to procure new capabilities for Ukraine from the US industry. This is the largest aid package committed today,” Austin said.
That new military aid will include Patriot missile batteries and ground-to-air defenses, plus a defense system against drones and “a significant amount of artillery ammunition, air-to-ground ammunition and maintenance support,” Austin said.
According to the head of the Pentagon, the help of the members of Ramstein’s group “has saved countless Ukrainian lives” with commitments that are already around 95 billion dollars and the coalition of these 50 countries remains “strong” in its support of Kiev.
Austin also said that the group is also working on creating a “self-sufficient” Ukrainian Army capable of containing Russia in the long term.
“The result in Ukraine will determine the trajectory of our days. If (Vladimir) Putin remains and wins in Ukraine, the consequences will be serious and global,” Austin said.
Today’s announcements of new military aid to Ukraine come after US President Joe Biden signed a law this week to progressively give Ukraine $61 billion in military aid and loans.
Today, at the beginning of the meeting, Austin announced that the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and the Czech Republic will send artillery, Patriot and HIMARS batteries to Ukraine urgently.
“If Ukraine succumbs under the boot of (Vladimir) Putin, Europe will fall under its shadow. That’s why we are determined to dissuade Russia from any new aggression, including NATO allies,” he said.
Austin praised the decision of the Czech Republic to send thousands of artillery pieces; the decision of the United Kingdom to approve a military aid package of 620 million dollars and the donation by Germany of another Patriot missile system.
The head of the Pentagon reiterated that right now the most perentory need for Ukraine is to improve its anti-aircraft defenses to prevent Russia from taking over air hegemony in key parts of Ukrainian territory.
In a recorded message, the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said that Ukraine needs “at least seven Patriot batteries” and “urgently” missiles and more artillery to face Russia.
“It must be remembered that predatory regimes such as Russian are rapidly increasing their appetite for aggression. When they succeed in one part of the world, problems are created in other places and the aggression will spread and will not stop,” Zelenski said.
International
China shows at the UN its “condemnation” of Israel for the “violation of Iran’s sovereignty”
The Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, showed the “condemnation” of his country against the “violation of the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Iran” after the air attack launched by Israel against multiple targets in that country, the official newspaper Diario del Pueblo reports this Saturday.
That media echoes Fu’s speech to the UN Security Council on Friday, in which he demanded that Israel “immediately stop all its military actions.”
“China (…) opposes the expansion of conflicts, and is deeply concerned about the serious consequences that may arise from Israel’s actions. The intensification of regional tensions does not interest any of the parties involved,” said the Chinese emissary.
Beijing called on Tel Aviv and Tehran to “resolve their disputes through political and diplomatic means, and maintain peace and stability at the regional level jointly.”
In Fu’s view, the Israeli attack will have a “negative impact” on the negotiations on Iran’s nuclear program: “China has always been committed to the peaceful resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue through dialogue and consultations, and opposes the use of force, illegal unilateral sanctions and armed attacks on peaceful nuclear facilities.”
This Friday, China had already expressed its willingness to “play a constructive role” to curb the escalation of tensions and facilitate conciliation, in line with its traditional position of active neutrality in the region’s conflicts.
The Israeli attack, which according to Tehran caused dozens of deaths, including senior military commanders and at least six nuclear scientists, targeted key facilities such as the uranium enrichment plant in Natanz. Numerous civilian casualties were also reported.
Israel justified the offensive by claiming that the Iranian regime is secretly developing a program to manufacture nuclear weapons.
For his part, Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, promised a “severe response” and assured that the attack would reveal the “evil nature” of Israel.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also expressed concern about the bombing, at a time when Iran and the US The United States is holding talks about the Iranian nuclear program.
International
Donald Trump’s government pauses its program of indiscriminate raides against migrants
The government of US President Donald Trump has decided to pause its campaign of discretionary roundings against migrants in certain areas due to its apparent concern about the growing unpopularity of these methods, according to The New York Times newspaper on Friday.
According to an email to which the newspaper has had access and the confirmation of US officials, the Executive has ordered the Immigration and Customs Control Service (ICE) to pause the beatings that affect the agricultural industry and the hospitality industry.
The spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed in a statement that “the president’s instructions” will be obeyed and the portfolio will also continue to “work to get the worst illegal foreign criminals out of the streets of the United States.”
The decision points out that this campaign of discretionary arrests to try to deport large-scale immigrants is harming industries and electoral constituencies whose support Trump wants to retain for next year’s legislative elections.
The new instructions were transmitted to ICE in an email sent last Thursday asking that “all investigations/law enforcement operations be suspended in work centers in the agricultural sector (including aquaculture and meat packing plants), restaurants and hotels.”
These new guidelines come in turn after more than a week of intense protests in Los Angeles against this immigration policy and that Trump himself admitted that the raids seem to be affecting the agricultural sector, which in states like California, where beatings have intensified, depend almost exclusively on immigrant labor.
Since his return to the White House in January, Trump has implemented an aggressive policy of hard hand against immigration and as a sample of his Cabinet officials recently held a meeting with the ICE leadership to order them to carry out 3,000 arrests a day, a mandate that seems to be behind the intensification of the raids.
International
Trump says he knew “everything” about the attack on Iran and assures that the dialogue remains open
US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Washington “known everything” about the Israeli attack on Iran and that the dialogue on Tehran’s nuclear program “is not dead.”
“We knew everything and I tried to avoid Iran all this humiliation and death. I tried hard to avoid it because I would have loved to see an agreement,” Trump said in an interview with Reuters.
The US president insisted on what he wrote today about the attack on social networks, where he said he gave an ultimatum of 60 days to Tehran to reach an agreement.
“We knew practically everything. We knew enough to give Iran 60 days to reach an agreement and today it is already 61 days,” he explained in the interview, in which he said he did not know what the current situation of the Iranian nuclear program is after the attack launched by Israel, which also ended the lives of key military leaders of the Persian country.
Regarding the dialogue between the US and Iran about the nuclear program of the ayatollahs, Trump assured that “he is not dead”, that “an agreement is still possible” and also recalled that on Sunday a sixth round of dialogue is scheduled in Muscat (Oman) that they consider is now in the air.
“We have a meeting with them on Sunday. Now, I’m not sure if that meeting will take place, but we have a meeting with them on Sunday,” he said.
The United States and Iran have held five rounds of talks on the Iranian nuclear program since April, with Washington demanding that Tehran discard its capabilities both to manufacture an atomic bomb and to enrich uranium, something that the ayatollahs considered unacceptable.
Both Israel and Trump himself had warned of possible preventive attacks on the Persian country due to this refusal by Iran.
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