Russia failing in war, says US, announces military aid for Ukraine- Top developments

The United States will reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon, its top diplomat said yesterday after he and the US defense secretary visited Kyiv, promising more military aid and hailing the fight against Russia's invasion.

Both Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the fact were able to come to Ukraine's capital was proof of its tenacity in forcing Moscow to abandon an assault on Kyiv last month.

"What you've done in repelling the Russians in the battle of Kyiv is extraordinary and inspiring quite frankly to the rest of the world," Austin told President Volodymyr Zelensky at a meeting overnight after a train journey from Poland. "We are here to support you in any way possible."

Blinken hailed Ukraine's success "in pushing back this horrific Russian aggression."

"In terms of Russia's war aims, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded," Blinken told a briefing in Poland on their way back.

Austin said: ""We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can't do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine."

US officials said Austin and Blinken pledged new assistance worth $713 million for Ukraine and other countries in the region. An extra $322 million in military aid for Ukraine would take the total US security assistance since the invasion to about $3.7 billion, one official said.

It would help Ukraine's armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defence systems that were essentially Nato-compatible, the official added.

Russia's ambassador in Washington said Moscow had sent a diplomatic note demanding a halt to US arms shipments to Ukraine.

Russia has consistently denied intending to overthrow Ukraine's government. Western countries say that was its objective from the outset but it failed in the face of Ukrainian resistance.

Just weeks ago, Kyiv was a frontline city under curfew and bombardment, with tens of thousands of Russian troops massing on its northern outskirts and residents sheltering from artillery in its metro stations.

Today, the nearest Russian troops are hundreds of miles away, normal life is returning to the capital, Western leaders have been visiting and countries are reopening their embassies.

But despite Ukraine having repelled the assault on Kyiv, the war is far from over.

Five railway stations came under fire in western and central Ukraine yesterday and there were an unspecified number of casualties, Ukrainian television quoted state-run Ukrainian Railways as saying.

All of the country was placed under an unusually long air raid warning for two hours yesterday morning.

Across the border in Russia's Bryansk region near northeastern Ukraine, authorities were battling a huge blaze at a fuel depot.

Neither side publicly linked the fire to the war, but Russia had accused Ukraine of a helicopter attack in that area last week.

In a daily update on the conflict, Britain's defence ministry said Russia had made only minor advances in parts of Donbas.

"Without sufficient logistical and combat support enablers in place, Russia has yet to achieve a significant breakthrough," it said.