The Pentagon confirmed that at least four flights with US military defensive material arrived in Ukraine

At least four US flights with defensive military equipment have arrived in Ukraine in recent days and a fifth will arrive in the country within the next 24 hours within the Biden Administration's $800 million package of weapons and security materials announced.

This was confirmed at a press conference by a senior US Defense official, who also stated that Ukrainian troops have pushed back Russian forces in the besieged city of Mariupol and that there is “heavy fighting” to the south and southeast of the Ukrainian town of Izium.

“Mariupol is certainly still under threat from the air, both from missile and bomb attacks. From the air, but even, with artillery,” he said, adding that the “toughest” struggle is taking place around Donetsk and, especially, in the Popasna region.

He also recalled that there have been shelling in the city of Mikolaiv in recent days, where “things have been quiet for a while” until now, when air and artillery strikes have been recorded.

“Ukrainians have reported that they believe that Russia is making preparations to land marines in the vicinity of Mariupol. We cannot confirm this independently,” he said, although he said that “they are not in a position to deny it”, since Russian troops “have some amphibious capacity in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov”.

“In the maritime environment, we still assess that the Russian Navy maintains a distance of separation from Odessa, without getting too close after the sinking of Moskva,” the senior US official added at a press conference.

With regard to the recent air strikes in Lviv, he stressed that “Russian troops were mainly pursuing military objectives”. “There is no indication that any Western warehouses or shipments of assistance have been attacked,” he said.

In addition, the senior US official detailed that, in the context of the sinking of the Russian ship 'Movska', the United States “did” see signs “that there were survivors”, since there were lifeboats in the water, although he did not specify the number.

“We believe that there were survivors of the ship, and it is difficult to see the damage that was done without assuming, in general, that there were also casualties. That they lost sailors. How many, we simply don't know,” he said.

(With information from Europa Press)

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