Boost for Ukraine as US Expected to Send Longer-Range Rockets

Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP)
Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP)
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Boost for Ukraine as US Expected to Send Longer-Range Rockets

Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP)
Ukrainian soldiers fire a Pion artillery system at Russian positions near Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Friday, Dec. 16, 2022. (AP)

News that the United States could soon send rockets nearly doubling the firing range of Ukrainian forces gave Kyiv a big lift on Wednesday, even as its troops were being pushed back by a relentless Russian winter offensive in the east.

Two US officials said a new $2 billion package of military aid to be announced as soon as this week would for the first time include Ground Launched Small Diameter Bombs (GLSDB), a new weapon designed by Boeing.

The cheap gliding missiles can strike targets more than 150 km (90 miles) away, a dramatic increase over the 80 km range of the rockets fired by HIMARS systems which changed the face of the war when Washington sent them last summer.

It would mean every inch of Russian-occupied Ukraine, apart from most of the Crimea peninsula, could soon be in range of Ukrainian forces, forcing Moscow to shift some ammunition and fuel storage sites all the way back to Russia itself.

Ukrainian Presidential aide Mykhilo Podolyak said talks on the supply of the longer-range missiles were under way, along with talks on attack aircraft. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the arrival of longer-range US weapons would escalate the conflict.

The expected US announcement comes a week after Western countries pledged scores of advanced main battle tanks for the first time, a breakthrough in support aimed at giving Kyiv the capability to recapture occupied territory this year.

But the arrival of the new weapons is still months away, and in the meantime, Russia has gained momentum on the battlefield for the first time since mid-2022, in brutal winter fighting both sides describe as a meat grinder.

Moscow has announced advances north and south of the city of Bakhmut in recent days, its main target for months. Kyiv disputes many of those claims and Reuters could not independently verify the precise situation, but the locations of the reported fighting indicate incremental Russian advances.

Troops were fighting building to building in Bakhmut for gains of barely 100 meters (yards) a night, and the city was coming under constant Russian shelling, a soldier in a Ukrainian unit of Belarusian volunteers told Reuters from inside the city. Russian forces were maneuvering to try to surround it.

Ukraine's general staff said late on Tuesday its forces had come under fire in Bakhmut and the villages of Klishchiivka and Kurdyumivka on its southern approaches.

South of Bakhmut, Russia has also launched a major new offensive this week on Vuhledar, a longstanding Ukrainian-held bastion at the junction of the southern and eastern front lines. Kyiv says its forces have so far held there.

Ukraine wants jets

Having finally persuaded NATO countries to supply modern battle tanks, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's government has been lobbying hard for fighter jets. The United States and Britain have ruled out sending their own advanced fighters, but other countries have left the door open.

In Paris after meeting Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Tuesday, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said "there was no taboo" about supplying Kyiv with fighter planes.

The West has so far refused to send weapons that could be used to attack deep inside Russia for fear of starting a wider conflict. Moscow nonetheless says Western pledges of weapons mean it is effectively at war with NATO.

Ukraine repelled a Russian assault on the capital Kyiv last year and took the offensive in the second half of 2022, recapturing swathes of occupied territory.

But its advances largely stalled since November, while Russia has been reconstituting its forces with hundreds of thousands of reservists mobilized for the first time since World War Two.

Capturing Bakhmut would be a step towards achieving Russia's war aim of securing full control of Ukraine's eastern Donetsk province. But Kyiv says the Russian gains of recent weeks are pyrrhic victories, bought with costly human waves of soldiers and mercenaries recruited from Russian prisons.

Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2024, describing it as a "special military operation" to disarm its neighbor and reduce a security threat from Ukraine's ties with the West. Kyiv and its allies call it an unprovoked assault to subdue the country and seize its land.



Canada’s Liberals Win Minority Government; Carney Says Old Relationship with US ‘Is Over’ 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks on stage at his campaign headquarters after the Liberal Party won the Canadian election in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks on stage at his campaign headquarters after the Liberal Party won the Canadian election in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
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Canada’s Liberals Win Minority Government; Carney Says Old Relationship with US ‘Is Over’ 

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks on stage at his campaign headquarters after the Liberal Party won the Canadian election in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney speaks on stage at his campaign headquarters after the Liberal Party won the Canadian election in Ottawa on Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press via AP)

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals retained power in the country's election on Monday, but fell short of the majority government he had wanted to help him negotiate tariffs with US President Donald Trump.

The Liberals were leading or elected in 167 electoral districts, known as seats, followed by the Conservatives with 145, with votes still being counted.

The Liberals had needed to win 172 of the House of Commons' 343 seats for a majority that would allow them to govern without support from a smaller party.

"Our old relationship with the United States, a relationship based on steadily increasing integration, is over," Carney said in a victory speech in Ottawa.

"The system of open global trade anchored by the United States, a system that Canada has relied on since the Second World War, a system that, while not perfect, has helped deliver prosperity for our country for decades, is over," he added. "These are tragedies, but it's also our new reality."

Carney said the coming months would be challenging and require sacrifices.

Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a polling firm, told Reuters the Liberal win hinged on three factors.

"It was the 'anybody-but-Conservative' factor, it was the Trump tariff factor, and then it was the Trudeau departure ... which enabled a lot of left-of-center voters and traditional Liberal voters to come back to the party," Kurl said, referring to the resignation of unpopular former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Carney had promised a tough approach with Washington over its import tariffs and said Canada would need to spend billions to reduce its reliance on the US. But the right-of-center Conservatives, who called for change after more than nine years of Liberal rule, showed unexpected strength.

Minority governments in Canada rarely last longer than 2-1/2 years.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre conceded defeat to Carney's Liberals and said his party would hold the government to account.

The result capped a notable comeback for the Liberals, who had been 20 percentage points behind in the polls in January before Trudeau announced he was quitting and Trump started threatening tariffs and annexation.

"America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country," Carney said. "These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never ever happen."

WAVE OF PATRIOTISM

Trump's threats ignited a wave of patriotism that swelled support for Carney, a political newcomer who previously led two G7 central banks.

Trump re-emerged as a campaign factor last week, declaring that he might raise a 25% tariff on Canadian-made cars because the US does not want them. He said earlier he might use "economic force" to make Canada the 51st state.

Carney has emphasized that his experience handling economic issues makes him the best leader to deal with Trump, while Poilievre tapped into concerns about the cost of living, crime and a housing crisis.

Trump, in a social media post on Monday, reiterated his call for Canada to become the 51st state.

"Good luck to the Great people of Canada," he said. "Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st State of the United States of America. No more artificially drawn line from many years ago."

Tensions with the US have caused supporters of two smaller parties, the left-leaning New Democratic Party and the separatist Bloc Quebecois, to shift to the Liberals. NDP leader Jagmeet Singh conceded defeat in his own district and said he planned to quit as party leader.

The Conservatives appeared on track to make gains in the seat-rich Toronto area to prevent a Liberal majority government, but Poilievre was trailing in his own Ottawa-area district, with votes still being counted.

"We didn't quite get over the finish line yet," Poilievre told his supporters in Ottawa. "We know that change is needed, but change is hard to come by. It takes time."

The Liberals are the last party to win four consecutive elections in Canada, accomplishing the feat in 2004.

Poilievre focused his campaign on domestic issues and the need to fix a country that he said the Liberals had "broken."