Ukraine updates: Russia launches 'massive' drone attack

The United States on Friday announced it will provide $425 million worth of additional arms and equipment to Ukraine.

Part of the package will draw from funds in the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), an $18 billion fund that allows the US government to buy weapons from the arms industry, rather than pulling from weapons stocks.

The USAI funds will be used to buy $300 million worth of anti-drone laser-guided munitions.

A further $125 million worth of air defense and artillery munitions and anti-tank weapons will draw from existing US stocks.

The US Defense Department said Friday that providing aid for Ukraine in its fight against Russia's invasion was a "a smart investment in our national security."

"It helps to prevent a larger conflict in the region and deters potential aggression elsewhere, while strengthening our defense industrial base and creating highly skilled jobs for the American people," it said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has defended his decision to invade Ukraine, repeating his claim that Moscow had no choice. 

"We were already attacked," Putin said at a meeting with representatives of an advisory body. 

He claimed that battles in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region, which has been partially occupied since 2014, had been proof of this. 

The area, which Putin claimed was historically Russian, was controlled by separatists loyal to Moscow. 

The Kremlin chief said Kyiv had not wanted to resolve the situation diplomatically. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is said to be "weighing" whether presidential elections will be possible next year given Russia's invasion.

Elections that had been due to take place next year, including the presidential one, are technically canceled under martial law.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that a decision had yet to be made about whether to go ahead with the elections.

"I think there is no other country in the world that would be even considering holding elections against the background of such a large-scale invasion," Kuleba said.

"But, we are not closing this page. The President of Ukraine is considering, and weighing different pros and cons," he said. 

Kuleba warned that elections would be difficult to hold due to the many Ukrainians living abroad as refugees and soldiers fighting on the front.

He also said there were fears that polling stations could become a "perfect target" for Russian drones or missile strikes.

Parliamentary elections scheduled for last month were also canceled due to the war.

A Moscow-installed official in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine's southern Kherson region said Ukrainian shelling Friday killed seven people, and wounded seven others.

"The Ukrainian army attacked civilian infrastructure in the Chaplynskiy district," the official, Russia-installed Senator Konstantin Basyuk, said on Telegram.

Ukrainian forces have not yet commented on the Russian reports, which come amid an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive. Ukraine took the city of Kherson from Russian forces last year, but Russia still controls a large chunk of the region.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has met with the CEO of the German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall to discuss ways to strengthen Kyiv's defense industry.

"Ukraine will have more weapons and ammunition to defend itself, protect civilians and infrastructure from Russian attacks," Kuleba said in a post on the platform X, formerly known as Twitter, during his visit to Germany.

"We discussed ways to further bolster the German and Ukrainian defense industries alliance," he said.

Earlier on Friday, Kuleba spoke to the German broadcaster ZDF and requested that Berlin send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is seeking additional military aid from Germany.

"Believe in us, support our fight. And our victory will also be your victory," Kuleba told German public broadcaster ZDF.

He said while media attention on the war in Ukraine had declined, political support from Kyiv's allies remained high.

Kuleba thanked Germany for providing Ukraine with IRIS-T air defense systems. He went on to express hopes that Berlin would also deliver Taurus cruise missiles to Kyiv.

Early in October, Chancellor Olaf Scholz decided not to provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles due to the perceived risk of Germany being drawn directly into the war. The missiles would allow Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory, as they have a range of 500 kilometers (310 miles).

Asked about the possibility of Ukrainian strikes in Russia, Kuleba said: "When a country asks us to limit the range of weapons to a specific area, that's what we do."

"We keep our promises," Kuleba stressed.

The minister denied Kyiv and Moscow were engaging in secret negotiations to end the conflict, reiterating Ukraine's official position that a total withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory would be a precondition for talks.

Kyiv has also demanded an exchange of all prisoners and a war crimes tribunal.

Moscow officials have argued a new sanctions package announced by Washington won't be able to defeat Russia.

The US imposed sanctions on Thursday that aimed to hit Russia's future energy capabilities and to limit means to evade sanctions. Firms in China, Turkey, and the United Arab Emirates were also impacted by the sanctions.

"This is a continuation of the policy of inflicting — as they call it — a strategic defeat on us," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told Russian state television. "They will have to wait in vain forever before that happens."

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow had learned to adapt to the sanctions regime of the US and its allies.

"Of course, sanctions create additional problems," he said. "But I will repeat once again, we have adapted to sanctions. We have learned how to overcome them."

Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, called the sanctions "chaotic" and illegal."

He said the aim of the sanctions, which he referred to as a "frontal attack," was to damage Russia's economy and hurt ordinary Russian citizens.

Antonov argued that the sanctions damaged Western countries more than Russia itself.

Leonid Mikhelson, the head of Russian natural gas producer Novatek, said US sanctions against one of its projects are an "estimate of our professionalism."

Novatek holds a 60% stake in the Arctic LNG-2 project, which plans to establish a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in northern Russia.

Speaking at a conference in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Mikhelson said that Qatar, Russia and the United States would be able to meet future global LNG demand.

The US targeted Russia's future energy capabilities in sanctions announced on Thursday.

Russia has launched drone attacks on Ukraine overnight, hitting several major cities.

There were no reported fatalities from the attacks.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said air defense had been active in 10 regions. Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, warned that Russia was "gradually increasing its air attacks on Ukraine."

The air force said it shot down 24 Shahed drones out of the 40 launched by Russia.

The governor of the northwestern Lviv region, Maksym Kozytskiy, said an infrastructure facility had been hit during the attacks.

In the western Ivano-Frankivsk region, a military facility was struck, according to Governor Svitlana Onishchuk.

The governor of the northeastern Kharkiv region, Oleh Synehubov, said drones had hit civilian infrastructure and caused fires in and near the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.

Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko called the attacks "massive" and said eight private houses, a three-story building, several cars and a car repairs hop were damaged during the strikes on Kharkiv.

sdi/sms (AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa)