US Announces $2 bn in New Ukraine Military Aid

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)
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US Announces $2 bn in New Ukraine Military Aid

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, Sept. 20, 2022. (AP)

The United States will send Ukraine a new military aid package worth $2 billion, a top US official said Thursday, a day before the first anniversary of Russia's invasion.

"Today, the United States announced a further $2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine," National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on CNN.

He did not give details of the types of armaments to be expected in the package, said AFP.

Sullivan, who accompanied President Joe Biden on a surprise trip into Kyiv this week, said US officials were constantly deciding how "to give Ukraine the tools that it needs to win."

He noted that while in Kyiv, Biden had delivered to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky "an announcement of more artillery, more ammunition, more HIMARS," in addition to previous pledges of US armored vehicles and at a later date, tanks.

HIMARS are a US multiple rocket system that Ukrainian forces have used to devastating effect against the invading Russians.



Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
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Italian Journalist Cecilia Sala Released from Iran and Returning Home

This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)
This photograph taken in Pordenone on September 16, 2023, shows Italian journalist Cecilia Sala posing for a photo at the Pordenonelegge Literature Festival in Pordenone. (ANSA/AFP)

An Italian journalist detained in Iran since Dec. 19 and whose fate became intertwined with that of an Iranian engineer wanted by the United States was freed Wednesday and is heading home, Italian officials announced.

A plane carrying Cecilia Sala took off from Tehran after “intensive work on diplomatic and intelligence channels,” Premier Giorgia Meloni’s office said, adding that Meloni had informed Sala's parents of the news.

There was no immediate word from the Iranian government on the journalist’s release.

Sala, a 29-year-old reporter for the Il Foglio daily, was detained in Tehran on Dec. 19, three days after she arrived on a journalist visa. She was accused of violating the laws of the country, the official IRNA news agency said.

Italian commentators had speculated that Iran was holding Sala as a bargaining chip to ensure the release of Mohammad Abedini, who was arrested at Milan’s Malpensa airport three days before on Dec. 16, on a US warrant.

The US Justice Department accused him and another Iranian of supplying the drone technology to Iran that was used in a January 2024 attack on a US outpost near the Syrian-Jordanian border that killed three American troops.

He remains in detention in Italy.