The International Monetary Fund endorsed financial aid to Ukraine in the amount of $2.2 billion, besides, Washington may provide Ukraine with weapons and ammunition worth $150 million in the next aid package.
Aid to Ukraine, Security agreement
US officials, wishing to remain anonymous because the package has not gone public, reported the Biden administration would provide Ukraine with $150 million worth of arms, including HAWK air defence interceptors and 155 mm artillery ammunition.
The US began supplying Ukraine with HAWK “Homing All the Way Killer” interceptor missiles (introduced into use in the 1950s) in 2022 as upgrades to Stinger man-portable air defence systems. In addition, the package will contain other munitions and equipment to support Ukraine’s defence requirements amid Russia’s air strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities in recent weeks. Military analysts indicate that in spite of these efforts, the Russian military continues to maintain a position of superiority in the conflict.
Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced late last night that it had approved $2.2 billion in financial aid to Ukraine. The support comes amid reports from Kyiv indicating a marked increase in the supply of ammunition to Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian leader Zelensky has spoken about his efforts to develop a new diplomatic plan aimed at resolving the ongoing war. The proposed plan, according to him, will receive significant support from the international community.
Apart from that, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk stated Warsaw will hold talks with Ukraine’s president before the NATO summit in Washington, at which Poland will almost certainly sign a bilateral security agreement with Ukraine.
I must, together with the defence minister, determine how we can continue to help Ukraine, but we cannot weaken Poland’s defence capabilities. There is a 99% chance that we will sign this agreement with President Zelenskiy (before the summit).
In addition, Lithuania and Estonia, signed security agreements with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at a summit in Brussels on Thursday. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said they plan to complete negotiations on the security treaty before the NATO summit in Washington and sign the document on 18 July.
Russia’s deployment of medium-range missiles
President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia will resume production of short- and medium-range nuclear-capable land-based missiles in the wake of the United States’ moves to deploy them in Europe and Asia.
It is known that the United States not only produces these missile systems, but has already brought them to Europe for exercises in Denmark. It was recently announced that they are in the Philippines. It is not known whether they took the missiles out of there or not. Apparently, we need to start manufacturing these strike systems and then, based on the actual situation, make decisions about where – if necessary to ensure our safety – to place them.
The 1987 Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missile Elimination Treaty (INF Treaty) was the first time the superpowers agreed to reduce their nuclear arsenals and eliminate an entire category of nuclear weapons. The United States formally withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019, claiming Moscow was violating the agreement, but Russia has repeatedly denied the accusation and called it a pretext.
Russia then imposed a moratorium on its own development of missiles previously banned by the RSMD Treaty – land-based ballistic and cruise missiles with a range of 500 kilometres to 5,500 kilometres. Russia has promised not to deploy such missiles, but the US has resumed production of them, forcing Moscow to respond in a mirror image way.
In his remarks on Friday, Putin gave no indication of where the missiles might be deployed, but earlier this month he said Russia could place conventional missiles within range of the United States and its European allies if they allowed Ukraine to strike deeper into Russian territory using Western weapons.
