After Rubio announced a freeze on foreign aid grants, Zelensky says the US has not stopped military aid to Ukraine

President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky The United States has said it is not suspending military aid to Ukraine after newly sworn-in Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Saturday that he would freeze foreign aid grants for 90 days.

Zelensky did not clarify whether the humanitarian aid has been suspended or not. Ukraine receives 40% of its military needs from the United States.

“I have focused on military aid; thank God it has not been stopped,” he said at a press conference with Moldovan President Maia Sandu.

The two leaders met in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss the energy needs of Moldova’s Russian-occupied Transnistria region, which has been cut off from natural gas supplies since Jan. 1 due to Ukraine’s decision to suspend Russian gas transit. Ukraine has said it may offer coal to the Transnistrian authorities to cover the deficit.

As President Trump begins his second term in office, the future of US aid to Ukraine remains uncertain. The American leader has repeatedly said that if he were president, he would not have allowed Russia to invade Ukraine because, even though he was president, fighting between Kiev’s forces and pro-Moscow separatists has increased in the east of the country under Putin. Tens of thousands of soldiers will be sent in 2022.

Mr Trump told Fox News on Thursday that Zelensky should have agreed with Putin to avoid conflict. A day earlier, Trump also threatened Russia with tough tariffs and sanctions if an agreement was not reached to end the fighting in Ukraine.

Rubio directed all US diplomatic and consular offices to suspend “all new funding commitments pending review for foreign assistance programs funded by or through the Department and USAID.” The message was consistent with executive order Mr Trump signed on Monday to reassess US foreign aid. It was not immediately clear how the order would affect US foreign aid to Ukraine and other countries.

The order, obtained by CBS News, says that within the U.S. government, “there is currently insufficient information available in one place to determine whether foreign aid policies and interests supported by appropriations are being replicated or effective.” It is consistent with the foreign policy of President Trump.”

Speaking in Kiev on Saturday, Zelensky said he had enjoyed “good meetings and conversations with President Trump” and believed the US leader would succeed in his bid to end the war.

“This can only be done with Ukraine, and otherwise it simply won’t work, because Russia doesn’t want to end the war, and Ukraine does,” Zelensky said.

Violent easterly attack

With Trump stressing the importance of brokering a peace deal soon, both Moscow and Kiev are eager to achieve success on the battlefield to strengthen their negotiating positions ahead of any prospective talks.

Russian forces have been waging an intensive campaign for the past year to open holes in Ukraine’s defenses in the Donetsk region and weaken Kiev’s control over the country’s eastern regions. The sustained and costly offensive forced Kiev to give up a number of cities, villages and hamlets.

The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Friday that Russian troops had fought their way into the center of the strategically important eastern part of Velika Novosilka, but this claim could not be independently confirmed.

The governor of Moscow, Vladimir Saldo, said that on Saturday, three civilians were killed as a result of the shelling in the Russian-occupied territory of the Kherson region of Ukraine.

He called on the residents of Oleshki, located near the front line in southern Ukraine, to stay in their homes or in bomb shelters.

Russia also attacked Ukraine on Saturday night with two missiles and 61 Shahed drones. Ukrainian air defense forces shot down both missiles and 46 drones. Another 15 drones failed to reach their targets as a result of Ukraine’s retaliatory measures.

Falling drones damaged Kyiv, Cherkassy and Khmelnytskyi regions, Ukraine’s emergency service said five people were from a 9-story apartment building in the Ukrainian capital.

Russia also struck Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region with drone strikes, causing casualties and damage, local authorities said on Saturday.

The drones targeted Shevchenkivski, Kievski and Kholodnohirski districts of the city, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Russia used the Molniya drone, a low-cost weapon developed and recently deployed by Russia, in the Shevchenkivskiy district, and a fire broke out. The mayor said that the attacks cut off the city’s water and electricity supply.

Terekhov said the number of victims was still being determined, while Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said three people, two women and a man, were injured in the strikes.