Donald Trump is expected to pledge more weapons to support Ukraine after Russia targeted areas close to Nato territory over the weekend.
At least eight people are reported to have died and many more injured close to the Ukrainian borders with Poland and Romania after Russia fired nearly 600 drones and 26 long-range missiles towards Lviv and Chernivtsi.
Officials in Poland said air forces from unnamed Nato allies joined its own military in response to Russia’s aggression.
President Trump said the US was on the verge of heeding Volodymyr Zelensky‘s request for more firepower to stop the war.
He is expected to confirm weapons, including Patriot air defence systems, will be sent to Nato for distribution in Ukraine tomorrow.
Mr Trump said the US will not send aid directly to Ukraine, telling NBC News: ‘We’re sending weapons to Nato, and Nato is paying for those weapons, 100 per cent.’
He had promised to bring an end to the war during his White House campaign but is said to have become frustrated amid stalling negotiations with Vladimir Putin.
Donald Trump (pictured) is expected to pledge more weapons to support Ukraine after Russia targeted areas close to Nato territory over the weekend
Russian President Vladimir Putin (pictured) looks on during a meeting with Andrei Nikitin on his appointment as acting transport minister, in Moscow, on July 7
The site of a glide bomb strike on a civilian infrastructure object in Kharkiv on Saturday
NATO warplanes were scrambled over Poland due to the massive scale of overnight Russian missile and drone strikes on Ukraine – the picture shows the aftermath of an attack in Lviv
President Zelensky said defence forces had neutralised more than 20 missiles and most strike drones, but that residential buildings had been hit.
He urged Western allies to send ‘more than just signals’ to stop the war and called for sanctions to ‘curb the pace of Russian air strikes’.
Ukrainian media reported four deaths in Chernivtsi with at least 20 wounded, and four more killed in Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy. At least a dozen were injured in Lviv.
US special envoy Keith Kellogg is due in Ukraine tomorrow to coincide with Mr Trump’s anticipated weapons announcement.
