Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the strikes took place “immediately after” his talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, “and that says a lot about Russia’s true attitude towards world institutions, about the Russian leadership’s efforts to humiliate the UN and everything that the organization represents. “Therefore, it requires a strong response,” Zelensky added. The number of victims was not immediately clear. One of the rockets hit a residential building near the empty Artem defense plant, which was evacuated before the February 24 invasion. “We are still in shock. “We were at home when the building was bombed,” Maksym Maksymov, 29, a sales manager, told the Guardian. “We heard the first strike. “And then a second rocket hit the building.” Guterres said he was shocked by the rocket fire, “not because I’m here, but because Kyiv is a holy city for Ukrainians and Russians.” In his night speech, Zelensky said that the rocket attacks in Kyiv and other cities “prove that we can not leave our vigil.” He thanked the US for the proposed new funding, saying that timely arms supplies were “a salvation not only for our people – it is a salvation for all of you – for the whole of Europe”. The blows came hours after Biden asked Congress to approve immediate spending cuts that would include more than $ 33 billion in military aid, ranging from heavy artillery and armored vehicles to even greater exchanges of information and tools. anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles. . Biden also called for $ 8.5 billion in financial aid to Kyiv and $ 3 billion in humanitarian aid, as well as funds to help increase food production and strategic minerals in the United States to offset the impact of the Ukraine war on the rest of the world. . The total of $ 33 billion is more than double the last additional request approved by Congress in March and undermines the entire defense budget of Ukraine and many other countries. The US president said the goal was to help Ukraine repel renewed Russian attacks in the east and south of the country, but also to move toward securing the nation’s long-term security needs. The same day, Congress agreed to update the 1941 lending legislation with which Franklin Roosevelt sought to help Britain and other allies fight Nazi Germany. The law is intended to make it easier for the United States to supply military equipment to Ukraine. It comes in the face of Russian warnings that increased Western arms supplies to Ukraine would jeopardize European security, that Western intervention could provoke immediate Russian retaliation and increase the risk of a nuclear conflict. Supporting Western aid, Biden argued that, on the contrary, if Putin did not stop in Ukraine, he would continue to threaten world peace and stability. The president made the request mainly in terms of defending Ukraine and did not explicitly reiterate the statement earlier this week by his Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, that one of the US goals in Ukraine was to weaken Russia to stop attacking other Countries. “Despite the worrying rhetoric coming out of the Kremlin, the facts are clear to everyone. We are not attacking Russia. “We are helping Ukraine to defend itself against Russian aggression,” Biden said. However, he added that the cost was “a small price to pay for Russia and aggression, to reduce the risk of future conflicts”. “Throughout our history, we have learned that when dictators do not pay the price for their aggression, they cause more chaos and indulge in more aggression,” he said. “Threats to America and to the world continue to grow. “We can not allow this to happen.” The new military aid funded by Congress will include:

More artillery and armored vehicles, as well as anti-tank missiles and anti-aircraft systems. Help develop Ukraine’s cyber warfare capabilities. More intelligence sharing. Support for the increase of Ukraine’s capacity to produce ammunition and strategic minerals. Assistance in clearing landmines and other explosives and defending Ukraine from chemical, biological and dirty bombings. A further strengthening of the US military presence on the east side of NATO.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peshkov warned on Thursday that increased supplies of heavy weapons from the West to Kyiv would jeopardize European security. “The tendency to raise arms, including heavy weapons, in Ukraine, these are actions that threaten the security of the continent, cause instability,” Peshkov said. The day before, Vladimir Putin had threatened a “lightning” response to Western intervention in Ukraine, adding: “We have all the weapons we need for this.” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has accused the United States and its allies of waging a proxy war in Ukraine and warned of the growing risk of a nuclear conflict. Biden has denied the allegations in a statement issued Friday stating “Similar, baseless allegations concerning Russia’s intelligence have been made more than once. “I think it is more a reflection, not of the truth, but of their failure,” he said. He added: “No one should make unnecessary comments about the use of nuclear weapons.” The government’s package of proposals to Congress also includes measures to strengthen the Justice Department’s hand in pursuing Kremlin-linked oligarchs to seize their assets and use the proceeds to support the war effort in Ukraine. War in Ukraine “an absurdity in the 21st century”, says the head of the UN – video Biden made the announcement as the UN secretary-general visited Ukraine, where he described the war as “absurd” in the 21st century. Guterres toured Borodyanka on Thursday, where Russian forces are accused of slaughtering civilians before leaving, on his first visit to Ukraine since the invasion began on February 24, before talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky. In nearby Bukha, where dozens of bodies of civilians were found, some handcuffed, this month, Guterres backed an investigation by the International Criminal Court into possible war crimes in Ukraine. “I call on the Russian Federation to accept, to cooperate with the ICC,” he said. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Iryna Venediktova has named 10 Russian soldiers allegedly involved in human rights abuses during Bucha’s one-month occupation. Venediktova also told German television that Ukrainian investigators had identified “more than 8,000 cases” of suspected war crimes from the Russian invasion.