US President Joe Biden told his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday that the United States will provide Ukraine with US$500 million in “direct budgetary aid,” the White House said in a readout of the pair’s telephone conversation.

The White House said Biden told Zelensky the United States “intends to provide the Ukrainian government with US$500 million on the call, which lasted about an hour to end at 12:03 p.m., according to a pool reporter covering the White House.

“The leaders discussed how the United States is working around the clock to fulfill the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country,” the readout said.

Zelensky said on Twitter following the call that he and Biden “shared assessment of the situation on the battlefield and at the negotiating table. Talked about specific defensive support, a new package of enhanced sanctions, macro-financial and humanitarian aid.”

Ukriane’s Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov said Wednesday that Russia is redeploying its troops from Kiev and Chernihiv directions, in the central and northern Ukraine respectively, to Ukraine’s eastern regions.

“Some personnel, who were in Chernihiv and Kiev directions, are being redeployed. Some of them appear in the Kharkiv and Donetsk directions,” Danilov was quoted as saying by the Ukrinform news agency.

Russia’s new offensive on Ukrainian forces is also possible in the eastern Lugansk area, Danilov said.

(Xinhua)