The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced on Friday an additional security assistance package for Ukraine that includes missiles, missiles and air defense tools to confront the Russian army in the south and east of the country. located in eastern Ukraine.

On Friday, Pentagon spokesman Todd Presley said that the $820 million aid package for Ukraine includes additional munitions for the HIMARS type of light mobile rocket launcher (HIMARS) and two advanced Norwegian-made NASAMS anti-aircraft missile systems. In addition to 150,000 155mm artillery shells, and 4 anti-artillery radars.

He added that providing Ukraine with two Nasams air defense systems paves the way for its transition from Soviet weapons to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The two air defense systems can launch short and medium-range surface-to-air missiles, and they are manufactured by the American company Raytheon and the Norwegian group Kongsberg.

The two remotely operated systems allow Russian aviation, including drones, to be intercepted, as well as cruise missiles.

The Pentagon stressed that Russia is not making steady progress in eastern Ukraine and suffers many failures, and its withdrawal from Snake Island facilitates the defense of Odessa and the opening of shipping lines in the future.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky considered that obtaining new weapons would break Russian supremacy in the east and south of the country.

The United States has so far allocated nearly $7.6 billion in security assistance to Ukraine since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, including about $6.9 billion since the war began on February 24.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr (left) during a press conference in Kyiv with the Ukrainian President (Reuters)

norwegian aid

In addition, Norway announced on Friday aid to Ukraine over two years of about one billion euros, and the government said in a statement that this large aid is in addition to previous aid announced by Oslo, and will be used for "humanitarian assistance, reconstruction of the country, weapons and support for the work of the Ukrainian authorities."

The announcement comes on the occasion of the visit of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store to Kiev on Friday, and also to the truce village, which was badly affected by the war in Ukraine.

The Norwegian news agency NTB reported that Støre was moved by what he saw during his visit, and described the village as "a glimpse of hell on earth".

"We stand with the Ukrainian people," the Norwegian Prime Minister said in the statement, adding, "We contribute to supporting the Ukrainians' struggle for freedom. They are fighting for their country, and also for our democratic values."

Last Wednesday, Oslo announced the provision of 3 multiple missile launch systems to Ukraine.

Kyiv is seeking to obtain these weapons in particular.

Snake Island

On the field level, the Ukrainian army accused the Russians on Friday of firing phosphorous bombs on the Snake Island in the Black Sea, which the Ukrainian forces regained control of from the Russian army on Thursday.

"At around 18:00, the Russian armed forces carried out two air strikes on Snake Island using phosphorous bombs," Ukrainian army chief Valery Zaloghny wrote on Telegram, accusing Moscow of "disrespecting the statements it made."

"The only thing in which the enemy seems to be in harmony with himself is his constant precision in striking," he added.

He attached his message with a video clip showing a plane flying over Snake Island and dropping at least two bombs that hit their target.

This is followed by the rise of white tongues in the air indicating the use of phosphorous bombs.

On Thursday, the Russian army announced that it withdrew from this strategic island "in a goodwill gesture" after "completing the set goals", and said that the withdrawal "aims to prove that Moscow will not interfere in the efforts of the United Nations to regulate grain exports from Ukraine."

Phosphorous bombs are incendiary weapons that are prohibited from being used against civilians, but not against military targets according to international conventions, and Kyiv has repeatedly accused Moscow of using these weapons since the end of February even against civilians, which the Russian army has categorically denied, knowing that the Israeli occupation forces These bombs were used in the aggression on the Gaza Strip.


Odessa battles

On the other hand, 21 people were killed Friday in strikes targeting buildings in the Odessa region in southern Ukraine carried out at night by strategic bombers, in an attack described by the Ukrainian president as "intimidation".

The Ukrainian Army's Southern Command announced that Tu-22 Tu-22, Cold War-era strategic bombers designed to carry nuclear cargo, fired KH-22 missiles over the Black Sea targeting an apartment building and tourist buildings.

Ukrainian authorities said that Russian missiles hit a 9-storey apartment building in the village of Serhivka, completely destroying it, and hit a resort near the Black Sea port of Odessa early Friday morning, hours after Russian forces were expelled from Snake Island near the coast of Odessa.

According to the latest results reported by the relief services on Telegram, accompanied by pictures of a mostly destroyed building, the strike that hit the residential building killed 16 people and wounded 38, including 6 children, while the strike that targeted the tourist resort left 5 dead, including a child, and one wounded.

The Kremlin denied targeting civilians in the Odessa region, and its spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, "I would like to remind you of the president's words, that the Russian armed forces do not deal with civilian targets."

Part of the destruction caused by the Russian bombing of the Odessa region in southern Ukraine (Anatolia)

Lyschansk

In the city of Lyschansk in the industrial basin of Donbass in eastern Ukraine, where the bulk of the fighting is concentrated, the Ukrainian president admitted that the situation remains "extremely difficult" in the city.

On Friday, the Russian Defense Ministry announced in a statement that "the (Russian) forces are on the outskirts of Lyschansk" and said that "the Ukrainian army is suffering heavy losses."

Moscow also announced its control of the city's oil refinery, which is the second largest in the country, and Russian state media broadcast pictures of Russian forces taking control of the refinery.

The refinery was established in 1976 and has a production capacity of 16 million barrels per year.

On the other hand, the Ukrainian Army Staff Command said that the Russian forces stormed the refinery without taking full control of it, and confirmed that they thwarted an attack by the Russian forces on a factory in Lyschansk.

The governor of Lugansk region, Sergei Gaidai, announced on Telegram that "the evacuation from Lyschansk is not possible at the moment" because the Russians "are trying to encircle our army from the south and west" near the city.

Al-Jazeera correspondent said that the artillery shelling on Lyschansk targeted two commercial centers and residential buildings, and that fierce battles were taking place in the vicinity of the city.

Lyschansk is the last major city outside the control of the Russians in the Lugansk region, one of the two provinces of the Donbass region, which Moscow wants to control completely.


Kharkiv and Kherson

In the Kharkiv region (north-east), Governor Oleg Senegopov announced on Friday 4 deaths and 3 injuries in the last 24 hours, and in Kherson in the south, Ukrainian helicopters struck a gathering of Russian forces and military equipment near the town of Belozerka, according to the Ukrainian army on Friday, indicating the fall of "35 dead" in the ranks of the Russian army and the destruction of its armored vehicles.

Ukrainian order from Turkey

On the other hand, Ukraine on Friday asked Turkey to seize a ship loaded with 4,500 tons of grain, flying the Russian flag, after it left Thursday the port of Berdyansk in southeastern Ukraine.

An official in the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said - quoting information received from the Maritime Administration in his country - that the ship "Zybek Zoli" was loaded with a Ukrainian shipment of grain from the port of Berdyansk on the Black Sea, a port controlled by Russian forces, located west of the port of Mariupol.

In a letter signed on June 30, addressed to the Turkish Ministry of Justice, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office requested the seizure of the ship, because it was related to an illegal export of grain from the port of Berdyansk to the port of Karasu in northern Turkey.


The Ukrainian ambassador in Ankara Vasyl Bodnar had accused Russia in early June of stealing grain and exporting it to Turkey. the problem".

For his part, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed last week that his country was investigating these accusations.

Kyiv accuses Moscow of stealing grain from the Ukrainian lands it has occupied since the start of the war at the end of last February, which the Kremlin denies.