Ukraine’s military reported fresh Russian drone attacks Tuesday, while pressure built toward new sanctions against Russia following the death of imprisoned opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
Ukraine’s air force said the country’s air defenses destroyed all 23 Russian drones. The intercepts happened over multiple regions of Ukraine, including Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv.
The Russian attack also included four guided missiles. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal Tuesday urged Japan and the European Union to enact new sanctions against Russia.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin “will be held accountable” for Navalny’s death.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday his administration is considering additional Russia sanctions, and he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian leader’s “thugs” for Navalny’s death last week.
“We already have sanctions,” Biden told reporters at the White House, “but we’re considering additional sanctions, yes.”
Navalny’s death comes as Biden has struggled to push a $95 billion package of international security assistance for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan through Congress over the opposition of numerous Republican lawmakers.
With bipartisan support, the Democratic-controlled Senate approved the spending package, but Speaker Mike Johnson, leader of the narrow Republican majority in the House of Representatives, has balked at sending the measure to the House floor for a vote, in part because former President Donald Trump opposes the new aid.
Johnson has complained that the foreign assistance package contains no new controls to block the influx of tens of thousands of illegal migrants crossing from Mexico into the United States. But Senate Republicans, at the behest of Trump, blocked consideration of a bipartisan proposal to tighten migration restrictions.
Johnson has been demanding a meeting with Biden on the issue, and the president, who strongly favors more Ukraine aid, said Monday he would be willing to meet with the House speaker.
“Sure I’d be happy to meet with him, if he has anything to say,” Biden told reporters Monday on the South Lawn of the White House.
At the same time, Biden swiped at Republican lawmakers for not continuing to fund Ukraine’s two-year fight to defend itself against Russia’s invasion.
“The way they’re walking away from the threat of Russia. The way they’re walking away from NATO. The way they’re walking away from meeting our obligations … I’ve never seen anything like it,” Biden said.
A spokesperson for Johnson said the speaker had been trying to meet with Biden for weeks. Raj Shah welcomed Biden’s “openness to meeting with Speaker Johnson about the best path forward for securing the nation,” and said, “It’s long overdue.”
Ukraine’s Shmyhal said Tuesday that while Ukraine’s military has gotten U.S. and European support, it needs more long-range missiles to bolster its air defenses against Russian attacks.
“Unfortunately, now they prevail in the air and unfortunately this leads to some consequences from the frontline,” Shmyhal said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Monday that Russia is exploiting delays in military aid to Ukraine.
“There is now an extremely difficult situation in several parts of the front line, precisely where Russian troops have concentrated maximum reserves,” he said.
“They are taking advantage of delays in aid to Ukraine, and this is a very sensitive matter,” Zelenskyy said after visiting the front line near the northeastern city of Kupiansk.
Russian media reported Tuesday that authorities in Yekaterinburg detained a women with U.S.-Russian dual citizenship on allegations that she provided financial assistance to Ukraine.
“The Federal Security Service in Yekaterinburg suppressed the illegal activities of a 33-year-old resident of Los Angeles, who has dual citizenship of Russia and the United States,” the TASS news agency quoted Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) as saying.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Moscow told VOA it is aware of the reports, but declined to further comment on the situation.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.