August 7, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The Biden administration is working on a supplemental funding request for Ukraine that will likely be ready for Congress to consider by this fall, Army acquisition chief Doug Bush said on Monday. 

CNN previously reported that the White House was not planning to ask Congress for new Ukraine funding before the end of the fiscal year at the end of September, pitting administration officials against some lawmakers and congressional staffers who were concerned that the funds could run out by mid-summer.

That funding shortfall does not appear to have happened, largely because the Pentagon previously overvalued the amount it had spent on weaponry to Ukraine by $6.2 billion.

More about the US' funding for Ukraine: In December, Congress approved the administration’s request for an additional $48 billion to help arm Ukraine and combat the Covid-19 pandemic, $36 billion of which was specifically allocated for Ukraine.

The supplemental was meant to last through September 30, 2023. The administration requested this kind of additional funding to help support Ukraine four times last year, in March, May, September and December.

At least two civilians were killed and at least five others were injured in Ukraine's Kharkiv region after Russian missiles hit private homes, Andrii Yermak, head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, said Monday. 

It comes after Yermak said in an earlier post that at least five civilians were killed by Russian missile strikes in the city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region. 

At least five people were killed and more than two dozen injured after Russian missiles struck a residential building in Pokrovsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region, Ukraine's Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said Monday. 

Among the injured are 19 police officers, five rescuers and one child, Klymenko said in a Telegram message. "The rubble is being cleared," he added. 

Earlier, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched two missiles that struck a residential building in the city. 

A video accompanying his post showed residents and emergency teams trying to clear some of the rubble. A person on a stretcher was being moved into an ambulance. 

Zelensky vowed to hold Russia accountable for the attack.

This post has been updated with the latest toll from the attack on Pokrovsk, according to Ukrainian government officials.

The US State Department called China’s attendance at a meeting for restoring peace in Ukraine hosted by Saudi Arabia over the weekend productive.

Miller said that Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with China’s special envoy at the meeting to deliver that message as well.

Miller also noted that there is no particular nation “leading” the talks, as Russia has yet to show interest in peace negotiations with Ukraine, but that when the Russians did, it would be Ukraine leading.

China signaled that the peace talks went well: Earlier Monday, China said the two-day meeting, which took place in the Gulf kingdom’s port sea city of Jeddah, helped “to consolidate international consensus” on finding a peaceful solution to the conflict, Reuters reported, citing a Chinese foreign ministry statement. 

The talks brought together more than 40 nations, including Ukraine, the United States, European states, and the BRICS group of countries — perhaps none as closely watched as China, Russia’s most powerful ally. Kremlin officials said Russia had not been invited to the talks but was monitoring them, state media reported. 

The first batch of Abrams tanks that the US is providing to Ukraine was approved for shipment over the weekend, and the tanks are on track to arrive in Ukraine by early fall, Army Acquisition Chief Doug Bush said on Monday. 

The US began training the Ukrainians on the tanks in May in Germany, CNN reported. The 31 tanks destined for Ukraine had been undergoing refurbishment and preparation for shipment for several months, and were officially approved to be transferred over the weekend.

The US dramatically accelerated the time it normally takes to ship the tanks by deciding earlier this year to transfer the older M1-A1 models instead of the more modern version of the tank.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on Monday with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba about “developments in Ukraine’s counteroffensive efforts, recent conversations about a just and durable peace in Ukraine held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and long-term security arrangements between the two countries,” according to a readout from spokesperson Matt Miller.

Kuleba tweeted about the call and said he emphasized Ukraine's need for long-range missiles.

Some more context: Ukraine's Armed Forces Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said earlier Monday that he told his US counterpart that Ukrainian forces are step-by-step creating conditions for advancing in the south, where they have struggled to gain ground as heavy fighting continues.

Zaluzhnyi said he had told the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that Ukraine's defenses were steadfast and that “initiative is on our side."

International peace talks in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, concluded this weekend without clear resolutions, but helped to “consolidate international consensus” on finding a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine, China’s foreign ministry said Monday, Reuters reported. The meetings did not include representatives from Moscow.

An alleged informant for Russia has been detained in connection to a plot to assassinate Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said Monday.

The woman's name has not been publicly released, but according to a statement from the SBU, she is from the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv.

The SBU said the suspect had been “gathering intelligence” about Zelensky’s planned visit to Mykolaiv at the end of July, in order to plan a Russian airstrike to kill the president.

However, SBU agents prevented the attempted assassination after the agency obtained information about the “subversive activities of the suspect” and adopted additional security measures.

In monitoring the communications of the woman, the SBU established that she also had the task of identifying the location of electronic warfare systems and warehouses with ammunition of the armed forces.

She allegedly traveled around the territory of the district and filmed the locations of Ukrainian objects.

According to the investigation, the alleged informant was a resident of Ochakov in Mykolaiv region and a former salesperson in a military store.

This is not the first assassination attempt: Zelensky has faced several known attempts on his life since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of his country in February 2022. Russian special forces were tasked with eliminating the Ukrainian president at the start of the war.

In a profile published in April 2022, TIME magazine described how Russian troops had parachuted into Kyiv to kill or capture Zelensky and his family on February 24, the day after the war began.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in March of last year that Zelensky had survived more than a dozen assassination attempts.

Jeffrey Judd Jones is one of the three Americans killed recently while fighting in Ukraine, according to a family statement provided to CNN by his father, Howard Jones.  

“Jeff’s family and friends are proud of Jeff’s contributions and sacrifice for the Ukrainian people,” the written statement read. 

The 48-year-old was killed by a mortar shell explosion on July 31, Jones said.

“Jeff had traveled to Ukraine twice to help the Ukrainian people, particularly the children. Jeff supported humanitarian efforts and then served on a volunteer medic team near the front in 2022 to add more purpose to his life,” Jones said in the written statement. 

He said his son was first injured in 2022 when an artillery round struck a building and he spent five days in a Ukrainian hospital. “Despite Jeff’s past experiences serving on the front, Jeff was determined to help the Ukrainians, so he returned to Ukraine in April 2023,” Jones said.

A resident of Perry, Georgia, Jeffrey Judd Jones served in the US Army and applied the skills he learned in the Airborne Division in Ukraine.

“Jeff’s family and friends will miss him dearly,” the statement adds.  

Apart from Jones, Andrew Webber was identified as another American killed recently while fighting in Ukraine, according to a family statement provided to CNN by his wife, DeeDee Cloyd Webber. 

A US State Department spokesperson told CNN that two Americans died in Ukraine on July 29 and another US citizen died on July 31. The State Department said it is in touch with their families and providing consular assistance. 

CNN’s Raenu Charles contributed reporting to this post.

Ukraine's Armed Forces Chief Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said he told his US counterpart that Ukrainian forces are step-by-step creating conditions for advancing in the south, where they have struggled to gain ground as heavy fighting continues.

Zaluzhnyi said he had told the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley, the top US general, that Ukraine's defenses were steadfast and that “initiative is on our side."

They also discussed Ukraine's current needs "in armament and ammunition," he added.