Ukraine war briefing: US to send $1.7bn in military aid to Ukraine, officials say

The US will send $1.7bn in military aid to Ukraine, officials announced on Monday, including an array of munitions for air defence systems, artillery, mortars and anti-tank and anti-ship missiles . Associated Press reports the package includes $1.5bn in funding for long-term contracts through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, and $200m in immediate military aid taken from Pentagon stockpiles. However, the defence department didn’t make clear which specific systems were being sent to Ukraine quickly, and which would be funded through contracts and so wouldn’t get to the war front for months or years.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had travelled to the frontline area of Vovchansk in the north-eastern Kharkiv region near the Russian border, where Moscow’s forces have been trying to break through , Reuters reports. Russian troops opened a new front in the north of the region in May, rapidly making inroads up to 10km (6 miles). Ukraine’s military later halted the offensive. “Kharkiv front. The forward command post of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in the area of Vovchansk,” Zelenskiy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

In video clips posted online, Zelenskiy later said authorities had already begun strengthening air defence systems in Kharkiv region, where frequent Russian air attacks have eased to some extent recently . “In terms of security, and without going into too many details, we have already begun strengthening the airspace around Kharkiv,” Zelenskiy told entrepreneurs in neighbouring Poltava region. Supplies of western anti-aircraft systems have begun flowing faster into Ukraine after an interruption of US supplies for months because of disagreements in the US Congress.

Russian forces have overrun two frontline villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a Ukrainian army sergeant said Monday , after relentless assaults that are part of a Kremlin summer push to overwhelm battlefield defenses there, Associated Press reports.

Separately, attacks in Russia’s Kursk region by the Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, struck a number of substations causing power outages, according to a statement from the General Staff of Ukraine . The claim of responsibility came after Russia said it thwarted a night-time Ukrainian drone attack. “They pressed non-stop” to capture Vovche and Prohres, the chief sergeant of Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Oleh Chaus, told Radio Svaboda. “They sent in a large number of troops, which had not previously been used.” Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed in recent days that it had taken control of the villages, but the Ukrainian General Staff made no official comment.

Ukraine’s military intelligence agency has claimed it was involved in an ambush that killed fighters from Russia’s Wagner group in the west African nation of Mali, thousands of miles away from the frontline in Ukraine. A Telegram channel linked to the Wagner leadership on Monday admitted the group had suffered heavy losses during fighting in Mali last week. Ukrainian forces are also believed to be active in Sudan , another place where Wagner troops have been heavily involved in fighting, in a further sign that Kyiv’s fight with Moscow has taken on a global dimension, the Guardian’s Shaun Walker reports .

French President Emmanuel Macron warned his new Iranian counterpart Massoud Pezeshkian in a phone call on Monday against Iran’s continuing support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Élysée Palace said in a statement.

Olha Kharlan won Ukraine’s first medal in the Paris Olympics. Kharlan collapsed to the ground in tears after beating Choi Sebin, the sparky South Korean, in sudden death to win bronze in the women’s sabre. “This is a message to all the world that Ukraine will never give up.”