Russia-Ukraine war live: Zelenskiy ‘grateful’ to Biden for support as Moscow criticises US president for ‘smart investment’ comment

Zelenskiy grateful to Biden for his ‘strong signal of support’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said he is grateful to Joe Biden for his “strong signal of support”, after speaking to the US president shortly before he gave a rare Oval Office address in which he asked Americans to back further military aid to both Ukraine and Israel.

Zelenskiy said he had discussed a “significant support package for our country” in his telephone call with Biden, who said in his speech that he would send an urgent budget request to Congress on Friday to fund support for Kyiv and Israel.

“It’s a smart investment that is going to pay dividends for American security for generations,” Biden said.

Moscow immediately hit back, saying Biden’s comments betrayed a cynical attitude to the war in Ukraine. “They used to call it ‘fighting for freedom and democracy’,” foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Telegram. “Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood.”

“Wars have traditionally been ‘smart investments’ for the United States as they did not take place on the American soil and they do not care about costs borne by others,” Zakharova added.

In other developments:

• Ukraine’s parliament has voted overwhelmingly to advance legislation seen as effectively banning the Ukrainian Orthodox Church over its ties to Moscow, despite the church’s insistence that it is fully independent and supportive of Ukraine’s fight against Russian invaders.

• A Russian-American journalist has been detained in Russia on charges of violating its foreign agents law, reportedly due to her coverage of Russia’s military mobilisation for its invasion of Ukraine. Alsu Kurmasheva, an editor with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty’s (RFE-RL) Tatar-Bashkir service, was detained on Wednesday.

• North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he wants to build a “forward-looking” relationship with Russia as he met with foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, state media reported. The veteran envoy’s two-day visit is expected to lay the groundwork for a trip to the country by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who was invited by Kim last month at a high-profile summit in Russia’s far east.

• Ukraine claimed to make a small incremental gain of 400 metres to the south-west of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region. Military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun said the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.

• Kazakhstan has banned exports to Russia of 106 goods that could be used in the Ukraine war after the ex-Soviet state vowed not to help its ally circumvent western sanctions, local media said Thursday. On a visit to Berlin last month, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said his country will “follow the sanctions regime”, amid suspicions Moscow is still receiving vital goods via Kazakhstan.

• The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said the EU must collectively continue to financially support Ukraine in future. “We have a clear stance here: This aid for Ukraine, for the financial stability of the country, we will have to provide this jointly as Europeans,” Scholz told lawmakers, while adding “that this cannot all be solved with additional funds”.

• Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval for the 2024 budget, which will increase funding for the army and national defence. Finance minister Serhiy Marchenko said the government’s priorities next year included accumulating funds for defence and security, and securing social payments for the population “to bring Ukraine’s victory closer”.

• Nato is stepping up patrols in the Baltic Sea after recent damage to undersea infrastructure. “The increased measures include additional surveillance and reconnaissance flights. A fleet of four Nato minehunters is also being dispatched to the area,” Nato said in a statement.

• Finland’s Ministry of Defence said on Thursday it had blocked three planned property transactions involving Russian buyers on grounds that allowing the acquisitions to take place could hamper the defence of Finnish territory.