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U.S. Sends $100M More In Dwindling Aid As Lloyd Austin Visits Ukraine
The United States on Monday announced a new package of weapons and equipment to support Ukraine against Russia’s aggression, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.
Capabilities in the latest package, valued up to $100 million, include: MANPADS missiles for air defense; M142 HIMARS systems; additional ammunition for HIMARS; 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition; Javelin, TOW, and AT-4 anti-tank weapons; demolition munitions; more than three million rounds of small arms ammunition; Claymore anti-personnel munitions configured to be consistent with the Ottawa Convention; as well as spare parts, ancillary equipment, services, training, and transportation.
"Helping Ukraine defend itself and secure its future as a sovereign, democratic, independent, and prosperous nation advances our national security interests. It helps prevent larger conflict in the region and deters future aggression, which makes us all safer." Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.
"As President Biden has said, when aggressors don’t pay a price, they cause more chaos, death, and destruction. They keep going, and the cost and the threats to America and to the world keep rising," he added.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also underscored the U.S' steadfast support during talks with senior leaders in Kyiv on Monday.
"I know that there are some things that we need to continue to work through to get the supplemental request approved," he said as he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov during an unannounced visit to the country.
The leaders discussed Ukraine's current operations and near-term and midterm goals and objectives, Austin told reporters following the talks. "And we'll continue to work with Congress to do that."
The secretary added that continued support for Ukraine is imperative. "What happens here matters not just to Ukraine, but to the entire world," Austin said. "This is about the rules-based international order. This is about ... not living in a world where a dictator can wake up one day and decide to annex the property of his peaceful neighbor. That's not the world we want to live in."
Austin will host the 17th meeting of the Ukrane Defense Contact Group later this week.
Politics
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Armenia is not against the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group, but does not consider it appropriate to discuss this issue now. "In the context of peace, we consider it possible to make a decision on the dissolution of the OSCE Minsk Group. When peace is an established fact, the existence of such a format may raise questions," Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at a press conference today. "The whole question is about the timing, we need to understand how effectively and correctly to turn such topics into a subject of discussion right now," the Armenian Prime Minister added.
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On August 30, at approximately 22:55, the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant in Metsamor was disconnected from the country's power grid, as reported by the Armenian Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure. The shutdown was caused by a lightning strike, which triggered the plant's safety systems to switch the station to a safe shutdown mode. Currently, the plant's staff is working on restarting the facility.
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