A new level of pressure on Moscow.. Washington allows Kyiv to be supported by assets confiscated from the Russian elite

The US Department of Justice announced the approval of the first transfer of confiscated assets from a Russian elite - known as an oligarch - to the State Department, for use in supporting Ukraine, while Kyiv announced that the transferred amount would be in favor of reconstruction in the country.

US Attorney General Merrick Garland said during his meeting with Ukrainian Attorney General Andrei Kostin in Washington that the measure comes in line with the new authority granted by Congress to the Department of Justice.

The confiscated assets follow the announcement in April of an indictment against Russian oligarch Konstantin Malofeev on sanctions-breaking charges.

Garland added that a court in New York had ordered the forfeiture of the funds in favor of the United States, and said, "With my authorization, these funds will be transferred to the State Department to be used in support of the Ukrainian people."

reconstruction efforts

For his part, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General said that the Russian assets that will be transferred will be used for the benefit of reconstruction efforts, explaining that the value of the confiscated assets amounts to 5.4 million US dollars.

Months ago, the Russian Ministry of Labor estimated the amounts that Western countries had frozen at about half of Russia's reserves of gold and foreign currencies, or about $300 billion.

For its part, the work unit of the Western allies responsible for tracking the assets of the Russian elites reported that the Western allies had frozen $30 billion of assets owned by the wealthy or the elites, in addition to about $300 billion for the Russian Central Bank, noting that real estate owned or controlled by them had been seized. On it, Russian subjects were subjected to sanctions.

Since the outbreak of the war, Britain has announced the freezing of assets worth more than 20 billion dollars owned by "oligarchs" and other individuals and companies.

American aid

Meanwhile, the US Department of Defense (The Pentagon) announced that the new military aid package to Ukraine - valued at $2.2 billion - includes for the first time small-diameter bombs, with a range of up to 150 kilometers.

Confirming what was revealed by Western press reports a few days ago, Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder told reporters on Friday that the new US aid package includes small-diameter bombs (GLSDB), which have a range twice as large as what the Ukrainian army is currently using against Russian forces.

These precision-guided bombs - also described as smart - are attached to missiles launched from the ground with launchers, and they can hit targets more than 150 kilometers away.

These weapons enable the Ukrainian forces to target the rear lines of the Russian forces and ammunition depots far from the contact lines.

The spokesman also said that the new aid includes Javelin anti-tank missiles, HIMARS missiles and other military equipment.

Iron fist

In the context, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on Friday that the new tanks provided by NATO countries will serve as an "iron fist" in Kyiv's counterattack to break through the Russian defensive lines.

Reznikov added in a press conference with his Polish counterpart that Western supplies of 155-caliber artillery are extremely important to Ukraine, to counter Russian attacks in the south and east.

For his part, Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak, who visited Kyiv on Friday for talks with Reznikov, said that Warsaw is helping to train Ukrainian soldiers to use Western tanks, adding that the training will take "weeks, not days or months."

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the German government confirmed that Berlin had authorized the sending of "Leopard 1" tanks to Ukraine, after it authorized the sending of "Leopard 2" tanks.

"I can confirm that an export license has been issued," said spokesman Stephen Heppistreit, when asked during a press conference today about the Leopard 1 tanks, but refused to give more details.

This military aid comes in conjunction with the escalation of Ukrainian and Western warnings of a Russian mobilization to launch a large-scale attack on the first anniversary of the war, and Kyiv says that its estimates indicate that Russia has summoned about 500,000 reservists.

joining NATO

The European Union had pledged to support Ukraine in its efforts to join it, during a European-Ukrainian summit held in Kyiv.

The union said - in a statement after the summit - that it would take further steps once all the conditions previously set for joining the commission were met.

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country's goal is clear, which is to start negotiations on its membership in the European Union, stressing that Kyiv will not waste a single day to advance towards joining the Union.