Ukraine Update: U.S. Sending Additional Military Aid to Kyiv

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(Bloomberg) — The U.S. is sending another $300 million in military and medical assistance to Ukraine, including Switchblade dive-bombing drones. President Joe Biden’s administration will help allies move Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine to support its defenses, the New York Times reported.

President Xi Jinping said China finds the situation in Ukraine “deeply regrettable.” Xi held a virtual summit Friday with European Union leaders, who said they expect Beijing at the very least not to interfere with sanctions imposed on Russia. A call between Chinese President Xi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is just a matter a time, according to a Chinese diplomat.

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Russia said two Ukrainian helicopters made a rare strike across the border, hitting an oil tank facility in the city of Belgorod. Zelenskiy, in an interview with Fox News, declined to say whether he had ordered the raid. The U.K. said Russian troops have withdrawn from Hostomel airport near Kyiv, which they captured in February. 

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All times CET:

Ukraine Advances Against Retreating Russian Troops, U.K. Says (8:17 a.m.)

Ukraine continues to advance against withdrawing Russian troops in the vicinity of Kyiv, the U.K. defense ministry said. Along the northwestern axis, Ukraine’s attempts to advance from Irpin towards Bucha and Hostomel are ongoing. 

Russian forces have withdrawn from Hostomel airport, about 32km (20 miles) northwest of Kyiv, the U.K said. They first captured the airfield at the start of the war and it’s has been subject to fierrce fighting since.  

The U.K. said Ukraine has also secured a key route in eastern Kharkhiv after heavy fighting following the recapture of Trostyanets, in the vicinity of Sumy, earlier this week. 

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Xi-Zelenskiy Call ‘A Matter of Time,’ China Says (4 a.m.)

“It’s always been on the agenda,” Wang Lutong, head of the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s European department, said Saturday at a briefing in Beijing.

Xi has spoken to several leaders since the invasion, including Putin, but Zelenskiy hasn’t been one of them. Xi may be reluctant to speak with Putin’s wartime rival so soon after declaring a “no limits” partnership with the Russian leader in early February.

When asked about Zelenskiy’s comment that China should be among the countries acting as its security guarantor in any peace deal with Russia, Wang said the topic wasn’t discussed at the summit with EU officials. “We’d have to study the details of that agreement,” he said.

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U.S. to Help Move Soviet-Made Tanks to East (2:27 a.m.) 

The White House will help allies move Soviet-made tanks to Ukraine to support its defenses in the country’s eastern Donbas region, the New York Times reported, citing an unidentified U.S. official.

The transfers will begin soon, the official told the Times while declining to say how many tanks would be sent or from which countries they will come. 

The tanks will give Ukraine the ability to conduct long-range artillery strikes on Russian targets in Donbas, according to the report. The decision, which marks the first time the U.S. has helped transfer tanks in the war, comes in response to a request from Zelenskiy, the official told the newspaper. 

The White House and the Defense Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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U.S. Adds 120 Entities to Blacklist (2:20 a.m.)

The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday added 120 entities in Russia and Belarus involved in the defense, aerospace and maritime industries to a blacklist that will restrict their ability to do business with American firms.

The additions to the entity list were intended to “degrade” those industries as Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine, the department said in a statement.

“These parties are being effectively cut off from the inputs necessary to sustain Putin’s war and shows that the United States has the capabilities to detect, identify, and restrict parties in Russia, Belarus, or elsewhere that seek to support that effort,” Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said in the statement.

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U.S. Providing $300 Million in Military, Medical Equipment (2 a.m.) 

The Department of Defense said it will provide communications systems, medical supplies and unmanned aerial systems including the Switchblade dive-bombing drone. The new equipment brings the total U.S. commitment to more than $2.3 billion in security assistance, the agency said in a statement.

The Defense Department will start a contracting process to procure the new equipment, rather than drawing down from U.S. defense stock. The Pentagon for the first time has disclosed on record it is supplying the Switchblade. It’s also sending the Puma, a hand-launched reconnaissance drone, and providing the Ukrainian military access to commercial imagery likely to include Russian military positions.

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Zelenskiy Wants Advanced Weapons From U.S. (1 a.m.) 

Zelenskiy called on President Joe Biden and other U.S. allies to provide Ukraine with additional advanced weapons. In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Zelenskiy added that a Western failure to swiftly provide such weapons would call into question whether the U.S. is “playing games.”

“Just give us missiles, give us airplanes,” he said. If “you cannot give us F-18 or F-19 or whatever you have, give us the old Soviet planes. That’s all.”

Zelenskiy declined to say whether he had ordered the Ukrainian raid across the Russian border.

U.S. Cancels ICBM Test on Russia Tensions, Reuters Says (11:30 p.m.)

The U.S. military has canceled a test of its Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missile, after earlier delaying the test in order to lower nuclear tensions with Russia, Reuters reported, citing the Air Force. 

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Evacuations Rise But Red Cross Says Mariupol Blocked (10:40 p.m.)

Ukraine evacuated more than 6,200 people from combat zones on Friday, a larger number than in recent days. But Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said buses intended to take more people out of Mariupol, the southern port that’s seen some of the most intense fighting, are still unable to get there. 

Russian forces “have been doing everything not to allow corridors to work,” she said in a video address to Mariupol’s people. Ukraine has urged the U.S., China and the Vatican to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin over the city’s evacuation, she said. 

The International Committee of the Red Cross also said that its team had attempted to facilitate a safe passage from Mariupol on Friday, but was forced to withdraw and will make another attempt on Saturday.

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Oil Drops Below $100 After Big Weekly Decline (10:15 p.m.)

Crude futures in New York declined below $100 a barrel after posting the biggest weekly decline in more than 10 years. U.S. allies said they would join the Biden administration in releasing strategic reserves to counter the run-up in prices triggered by the invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions against Russia.

Russia Says Fire Out at Belgorod (9:26 p.m.)

The Russian Emergency Ministry said the fire at the Belgorod oil depot has been extinguished, Tass reports. The Belgorod mayor said on Telegram people living near the facility can return to their homes. 

Earlier Friday, Moscow said two Ukrainian military helicopters attacked the facility, about 50 km (30 miles) north of the border.

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Russian Pullout from Chernobyl Completed, IAEA Says (7:44 p.m.)

All Russian forces have left the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine — site of the deadly 1986 meltdown — and international monitors are preparing to go in, the International Atomic Energy Agency said on Twitter.

Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi “intends to head an IAEA assistance and support mission” to the plant “as soon as possible,” the agency said.

U.K. Creates Sanctions Exception for Russia Bond Payments (7:24 p.m.)

The U.K. Treasury has approved a sanctions exception for the banks, clearinghouses and other intermediaries that help funnel payments on Russia’s international sovereign bonds to investors.

The British government published a notice outlining the exemption from its Russia-related sanctions regime to allow for financial services enabling the transfer of such payments. The measure applies to debt that was issued by the Russian government before March 1, is effective from April 1 and is set to expire June 30.

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EU Leaders Warn China on Russia Sanctions (4:13 p.m.)

“We expect China, if not supporting the sanctions, at least to do everything not to interfere in any kind,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told reporters after the meeting with Xi. “On that point we were very clear.” She added the EU expected China to use its influence on Russia to end the war.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said during the summit that Beijing has been promoting peace talks on Ukraine in its own way, and is willing to play a constructive role. 

Refugees May be Able to Swap Hryvnias Into Euros (2:15 p.m.)

Ukrainian refugees in the EU may soon be able to swap some of their banknotes into euros and other currencies. The EU’s executive arm asked member states to set up facilities that allow each person to exchange up to 10,000 hryvnia ($339) free of charge at an official rate set by the Ukrainian central bank. Poland started a similar initiative in March.

Many of the 4 million people who’ve fled Ukraine — over half of them going initially to Poland — have had trouble swapping hryvnia for local currency because banks haven’t been willing to take risks related to wild exchange-rate swings. 

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