Pentagon says it will send an additional $425mln in military aid to Ukraine 'soon'

The Pentagon has said it will send an additional $425 million (€392 million) in military assistance to Ukraine as Kyiv prepares to face Russian forces augmented by more than 10,000 North Korean troops.

The new aid package, announced by Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, includes weapons that will be pulled from existing US stockpiles, including air defence interceptors for National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and 155 mm artillery and armoured vehicles and anti-tank weapons.

The aid package announced by the Pentagon brings the total amount of military assistance the US has provided Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022 to $60.4 billion (€55 billion).

Ukraine's eastern cities continue to face an onslaught of Russian missile strikes, including one on Kharkiv by a 500-kilogram glide bomb.

That attack on Thursday hit an apartment complex, killing three and injuring several others.

Russia has increasingly used powerful glide bombs to pummel Ukrainian positions along the 1,000-kilometre line of contact and strike cities dozens of kilometres from the front line.

Ukraine is also facing fresh uncertainty as waves of North Korean soldiers deployed to Russia have arrived near Ukraine’s border and are preparing to join the fight against Ukrainian troops in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Slovakia's Prime Minister Robert Fico has pushed back against Western military support for Ukraine, accusing European countries of not being interested in a peaceful resolution to the war and saying providing Kyiv with weapons only prolongs the fighting.

"It was Western politicians who, on the contrary, did everything possible to ensure that no realistic peace agreements were signed in April