Al-Jazeera correspondent said that bombing targeted the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, this evening, Thursday, in an area that includes residential buildings and the headquarters of aviation companies, during the visit of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to the city.

Al-Jazeera correspondent Hassan Masoud said that two missiles fell in the area west of Kyiv.

On the other hand, US President Joe Biden asked Congress for $33 billion to support Kyiv, in a remarkable increase in US funding, which includes military and economic aid.

Biden's request to Congress includes more than $20 billion in arms, ammunition, and other military assistance, as well as $8.5 billion in direct economic assistance to the government and $3 billion in humanitarian aid and food security.

"We need this bill to support Ukraine in its fight for freedom," Biden said at the White House on Thursday. "The cost of this fight is not cheap, but succumbing to aggression would be more expensive."

The US President stressed that his country will not allow Russia to exercise "gas blackmail" to pressure European allies and circumvent the sanctions imposed on it following its war on Ukraine, in reference to the Russian "Gazprom" cutting gas supplies from Poland and Bulgaria due to non-payment of gas payments in Russian rubles. .

Biden said that Washington would not allow Russia to "blackmail" European allies by cutting off (European) gas supplies.

Biden also stated that Russia's threat to use nuclear weapons is "irresponsible", and added that it "shows a sense of desperation in Russia, which is facing its miserable failure compared to the first goals" it set at the beginning of the war.

The US president considered that Washington's speedy sending weapons to Ukraine is what prompted Russia to back off from entering Kyiv, stressing the need to pass the law submitted to Congress to approve additional funding for Ukraine to continue fighting.

The White House said that the proposed law gives the US administration new powers as it authorizes it to seize more assets of Russian elites and transfer some of these confiscated funds to Ukraine to help them.

Kyiv plans

On the other hand, Oleksiy Arstovich, a military advisor to the Ukrainian president, said that Western countries have begun to identify routes for the introduction of heavy weapons into the territory of Ukraine.

And Arstovich said - in an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera - that "the task is difficult" in eastern Ukraine, and that they lack qualitative and heavy weapons.

He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had failed to control the northern and southern regions, and he is now trying to isolate them, as he put it.

Arstovich stressed that any talk of the division of Ukraine is an "attempt to confuse the Ukrainian people."


Meanwhile, Ukrainian Presidential Adviser Mikhailo Podolyak confirmed - today, Thursday - that Ukraine has the "right" to strike Russian military targets, hinting that Kyiv may target Russian territory.

And Reuters news agency reported this evening that two powerful explosions were heard in the Russian city of Belgorod, near the border with Ukraine.

In the past few days, Russia has talked about what it says are a series of attacks launched by Ukrainian forces on Russian regions bordering Ukraine, and warned that such attacks raise the risk of a significant escalation.

Ukraine did not directly claim responsibility for the attacks, but described them as a "price payment".

Russian warning

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters today, "They in the West openly call on Kyiv to attack Russia through various means, including using weapons it received from NATO countries. I do not advise you to test our patience."

The Kremlin also said that the West's efforts, especially Britain, to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons threatens Europe's security.

Moscow earlier condemned Britain's statements, which indicated that the targeting of Ukraine's logistical infrastructure for the Russian army is legitimate.


On the other hand, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, inspected areas in the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital (Kyiv), which he is currently visiting.

Guterres' tour included the Irbin region, as well as the Bucha region, which Ukraine accuses Russian forces of committing a massacre in which a number of civilians were buried in mass graves.

Guterres listened to a briefing from local officials about the events in the Ukrainian capital, as well as the extent of the destruction caused by the war in the city.