Russia Ukraine war latest: Biden vows surge in weapons for Kyiv after ‘outrageous’ attack by Putin – UK Times

US president Joe Biden condemned Russia’s Christmas Day attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and cities, underscoring the US commitment to supporting Ukraine.

“The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid,” Mr Biden said in a statement.

He instructed the defence department to continue accelerating arms shipments to Ukraine.

However, uncertainty looms over future aid as president-elect Donald Trump, who has voiced scepticism about the scale of US involvement in the conflict, prepares to take office.

Keith Kellogg, Trump’s pick for special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, also criticised Wednesday’s attack.

“Christmas should be a time of peace, yet Ukraine was brutally attacked on Christmas Day,” Kellogg said. “The US is more resolved than ever to bring peace to the region.”

A Russian cargo ship that Kyiv says was intended to collect weapons from military bases in Syria has sunk on route in the Mediterranean Sea.

Officials in Moscow said two crew members are missing after an engine room explosion sank the Ursa Major between Spain and Algeria. Fourteen other crew were rescued and taken to Spain.

The vessel left the Russian port city of St Petersburg on 11 December, according to ship tracking data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG). It was last seen sending a signal at 10.04pm GMT on Monday between Algeria and Spain.

Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed on Monday that the ship had been sent to Syria to remove weapons and military materiel after the fall of Moscow-backed Bashar Al-Assad.

Ukraine’s president Zelensky and South Korean officials have provided different estimates of North Korean troops killed or injured as they fight alongside Russian forces.

Seoul’s top military officials say that around 1,100 North Korean troops have been killed or wounded in Ukraine’s Kursk region. Meanwhile, Zelensky put the figure much higher, at over 3,000.

The Ukrainian president has warned that more North Korean troops will likely join the invading Russian forces, criticising world leaders for doing “almost nothing” to curb collaboration between the two nations.

South Korean military sources have corroborated his claim, saying there is evidence that North Korea is preparing to send more resources to Russia.

Russia’s Gazprom said that it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Tuesday, up from 42.1 mcm on Monday.

The slight uptick in distribution comes after Zelensky said he would not allow contracts for gas exports which flow from Russia to Europe through Ukraine to be renewed.

In reaction to the announcement, Slovakia PM Robert Fico met with Putin on Monday for the first time since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Gazprom’s exports to Europe and beyond decreased sharply following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, dropping by 90 billion cubic metres (bcm) in a single year to 63.8 billion over the year.

This dropped again in 2023 to 28.3 bcm, and is estimated to reach 32 bcm overall for 2024.

However, these figures are all staggeringly low compared to Gazprom’s pre-war exports, with the 2018/19 peak of 180 bmc remaining far out of reach.

Ukraine has successfully mounted its first robot-only assault against Russia, its the military says, as unmanned vehicles pushed back Moscow’s forces over the weekend.

In a display of modern warfare, Kyiv used dozens of remote-controlled vehicles mounted with machine guns, as well as unmanned kamikaze drones, in a raid near the Ukrainian-held town of Lyptsi, the Ukrainian military said.

Volodymyr Dehtiarov, a representative for Ukraine’s Khartiia Brigade, said: “We are talking about dozens of units of robotic and unmanned equipment simultaneously on a small section of the front.”

The assault took place between Russian-held Hlyboke and Ukrainian-held Lyptsi, in the Kharkiv region near Ukraine’s north-western border.

Kyiv has struggled with a shortage of manpower as the fight against invadin Russian troops continues into 2025. Ukranian officials have said the nation’s military consists of around 800,000 while Russia has committed 1.7 million troops to its war so far.

Modern assaults such as Ukraine’s robot only attack may prove to be crucial in the coming year as the officials look to tackle the imbalance of troops.

Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico has drawn criticism from the European community and Slovakian citizens after he met face-to-face with Vladimir Putin the day before Christmas Eve (23 December).

Mr Fico became only the third European leader to visit the Russian president in Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine was ordered in February 2022.

The pair discussed “the international situation” and the delivery of Russian natural gas, according to the Kremlin.

Mr Fico says his visit was a reaction to Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky’s announcement that he would no longer allow Russian natural gas to flow to other European countries through pipes in Ukrainian soil.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry slammed the “weakness, dependence and short-sightedness” of Mr Fico’s energy policy in a statement, calling it a “threat to the whole of Europe.”

Meanwhile, protests have taken place in Bratislavia, Slovakia’s capital, as citizens show their support for Ukraine and disappointment at Mr Fico’s meeting.

President Joe Biden has said he asked the US Defense Department to continue its surge of weapons deliveries to Ukraine after condemning Russia’s Christmas Day attack against some of Ukraine’s cities and its energy system.

“The purpose of this outrageous attack was to cut off the Ukrainian people’s access to heat and electricity during winter and to jeopardize the safety of its grid,” Biden said in a statement.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s energy system and some cities with cruise and ballistic missiles plus drones on Wednesday, Ukraine said. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Washington has committed $175 billion in aid for Ukraine.

Europe’s frontline countries remain adamant that Vladimir Putin must not be rewarded for his invasion of Ukraine, and that the safety of the continent relies on Ukraine’s success.

“To be very frank, when Russia is fighting with Ukraine and Russia is defeated in Ukraine, there is no need to ask who is next,” Estonian prime minister Kristen Michal told The Independent.

“If we allow Russia as a regime, as a thug, as a bully, to take something by force, and after that, we say, yes, let’s agree that half of what is taken is theirs, then that would be a very bad message for the future of the democratic world.”