Ukraine updates: Scholz supports continued EU aid to Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has thanked US President Joe Biden for supplying his country with ATACMS missiles to fight Russian troops.

Zelenskyy said he expressed his thanks to Biden during a telephone conversation, describing it in a statement on the Telegram messaging platform as "effective implementation of our recent defense agreements."

"Ukrainians have been very inspired by the acquisition of ATACMS missiles and our servicemen are successfully using them on the battlefield," Zelenskyy wrote.

He added that he discussed with Biden as well further strengthening "our long-range capabilities." 

Ukraine's foreign minister earlier said that Kyiv would be receiving the ATACMS missiles regularly.

Ex-Soviet state Kazakhstan banned the export of 106 goods to Russia which could be used in Moscow's war against Ukraine, Kazakh media reported on Thursday.

The ban would only apply to products "linked to the war." Banned goods included "drones, their electronic components, special equipment and chips," the state news agency cited deputy trade minister Kairat Torebayev as saying.

Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev vowed to "follow the sanctions regime" during a visit to Berlin last month.

A boom in cross-border trade between Moscow and neighbors including Kazakhstan has led Western countries to believe Russia was receiving banned goods and therefore circumventing sanctions imposed as a result of its invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has celebrated Moscow's relationship in "the overall partnership and strategic cooperation" with China, in a statement addressing a Russian-Chinese energy forum in Beijing, during his visit to the Chinese capital. 

Putin said cooperation between the two countries has "reached an unprecedented high level and continue[s] to develop dynamically." He stressed the developments in energy cooperation.

The visit is Putin's second known trip abroad since he was served an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court earlier in March over the deportation of Ukrainian children.

The Russian president hoped he could secure during the visit a breakthrough on a major new gas pipeline which would link China through Mongolia.

The pipeline would allow Russia to sell gas formerly sold to Europe, but no longer sought after since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Ukrainian forces have made some headway in southern Ukraine against Russian troops, Kyiv has said, amid new Russian attacks around the eastern town of Avdiivka, which have been ongoing for days.

Kyiv's military said on Thursday that its forces have advanced 400 meters (0.25 miles) to the southwest of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Verbove lies a few kilometers east of Robotyne, another village which Ukraine captured last month.

However, Russian attacks on the eastern towns of Kupiansk and Avdiivka continue to be reported. 

"They do not stop their attempts to encircle the city [Avdiivka], they continue to exert pressure there," military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said. "They regrouped and launched new assaults there."

Hanna Maliar, a former deputy defense minister, said Moscow's eastern attacks are aimed at forcing Ukraine to bring in reinforcements from elsewhere.

Ukraine's parliament approved the first reading of the 2024 budget on Thursday, which includes increased funding for the army.

Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government's priorities next year included accumulating funds for defense "to bring Ukraine's victory closer." 

The budget projects revenues of 1.7 trillion hryvnias ($46.4 billion; €44 billion) and sets spending at 3.3 trillion hryvnias, leaving a deficit of around 1.6 trillion hryvnias, lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak said on Telegram.

 Ukraine has attracted nearly $34 billion (€32 billion) in Western financial aid so far this year after receiving $31 billion in 2022. 

Ukraine moved closer to banning the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) on Thursday.

Ukraine's parliament passed the first reading of a bill that would prohibit religious organizations that are associated with the Russian Federation.

Bills typically require two readings before they can be signed into law by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"So far, this is only the first reading but it is still a historic decision," Ukrainian lawmaker Inna Sovsun said on social media.

"In order to defeat the aggressor, we need to think asymmetrically and leave no room for Russia to harm us," she added. 

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz reiterated the importance of financial aid for Ukraine on Thursday.

"We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans," Scholz told the German parliament.

However, he added that such aid was not a long-term solution.

He added that "this cannot all be solved with additional funds."

Scholz also took a swipe at Russian President Vladimir Putin for condemning the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza as Israel attacks Hamas — deemed a terrorist group by the US, the EU, Germany and others — while himself presiding over the invasion of Ukraine, in which thousands of Ukrainian civilians were killed.

"It makes me more than furious to hear the Russian president repeatedly warning that there could be civilian casualties from an armed conflict," Scholz told lawmakers.

"It doesn't get more cynical than that," he said.

A Russian-American Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist has been detained in Russia and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent, her employer said Wednesday. 

Alsu Kurmasheva works as an editor with the US-funded Tatar-Bashkir service. She "needs to be released so she can return to her family immediately," RFE/RL acting president Jeffrey Gedmin said in a statement.

"Alsu is a highly respected colleague, devoted wife and dedicated mother to two children," Gedmin added. 

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said Kurmasheva was being held at a temporary detention center. CPJ was told by the Russian human-rights news website OVD-Info that she would likely be transferred to pre-trial detention.

Kurmasheva, who normally lives in Prague, had traveled to Russia for a "family emergency," RFE/RL said. Authorities fined her as she was trying to return to Prague for failing to notify them about her US passport. 

She was detained on the new charges while waiting for her documents to be returned. 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov thanked North Korea for supporting his country's war in Ukraine and praised their close relations, the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

"We highly value your principled, unambiguous support for Russia's actions in connection with the special military operation in Ukraine," Lavrov was quoted as saying by Russian news agency RIA.

Lavrov was in Pyongyang to set the stage for a visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is making efforts to strengthen ties with Pyongyang.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un invited Putin during a high-level summit in Russia last month.

"After the landmark summit ... we can say confidently that [Russia-North Korea] relations have reached a qualitatively new, strategic level," Lavrov said.

The White House has said that North Korea has supplied Russia with weapons, calling it a troubling development.

The Biden administration is considering sending $60 billion in assistance to Ukraine, along with $10 billion for Israel.

President Joe Biden is expected to submit a supplemental spending request to Congress on Friday, a source told Reuters news agency.

Biden is expected to ask Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill quickly, due to the ongoing conflict in Israel and Gaza. 

Republicans in the House of Representatives previously blocked Ukraine spending from the US last-minute budget agreement.

Two people died and one was injured when a Russian missile struck a residential area in Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region on Wednesday evening, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. 

The missile reportedly struck a "food establishment" situated in a residential neighborhood. 

"Two individuals lost their lives, and another person was trapped under the debris," authorities said.

The governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, wrote earlier on the messaging app that the incident happened in a small village called Stepove, 45 kilometers (28 miles) northwest of the city of Mykolaiv. He later added that there had been two explosions.

Kim said one of those killed was a woman. "The rescuers dislodged her body from under the rubble of the destroyed building," he wrote.

tg/ab (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)