The US will provide up to $250 million (AED 918 million) in arms and equipment to Ukraine in the final package of aid this year to help Kyiv in its war with Russia, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden has asked Congress to provide another $61 billion (AED 221 billion) in aid to Ukraine, but Republicans are refusing to approve the assistance without an agreement with Democrats to tighten security along the US-Mexico border.
The White House has warned that without the additional appropriation US aid to Ukraine will run out by the end of the year.
Blinken said the latest aid package included air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, artillery ammunition, anti-armor munitions and over 15 million rounds of ammunition.
Congress has approved more than $110 billion (AED 404 billion) for Ukraine since the war with Russia began, but it has not approved any funds since Republicans took control of the House of Representatives from Democrats in January 2023.
The US Central Command said it will begin implementing a blockade of all maritime traffic entering and exiting Iranian ports on April 13 at 10 a.m. ET (1400 GMT), after President Donald Trump said the US Navy would start blockading the Strait of Hormuz.
Hungary's veteran nationalist leader Viktor Orban lost power to the upstart centre-right Tisza party in Sunday's national election after 16 years in office, marking a setback for his allies in Russia and US President Donald Trump's White House.
President Donald Trump said on Sunday the US Navy would immediately start blockading the Strait of Hormuz, raising the stakes after marathon talks with Iran failed to reach a deal to end the war, jeopardising a fragile two-week ceasefire.
At least 200 people are feared dead after Nigerian military jets struck a village market while pursuing rebels in the northeast of the country on Saturday night, a councillor for the area and residents said on Sunday.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other on Sunday of breaching the 32-hour ceasefire in their four-year war, reporting more than a thousand drone and shelling attacks just hours after the truce began on Saturday to mark Orthodox Easter.