Ukraine-Russia war latest: US clears aid worth $8bn for Kyiv as Zelensky offers to meet Putin to end war

The future of the Ukraine Support Act is uncertain and likely to face a final hurdle.

The US House of Representatives passed legislation to provide aid to Ukraine and impose new sanctions on Russia, the latest sign that some Republicans are willing to defy party leaders and push back against President Donald Trump.

The Ukraine Support Act includes measures to help Ukraine rebuild after the war, authorizes more than $1bn in assistance for Kyiv, and up to $8bn in support via direct loans.

It also imposes stiff sanctions and export controls on Russia, including ⁠on financial institutions, oil and mining and Russian officials.

The House voted 226 ⁠to 195 for the Ukraine Support Act, which reached the floor after languishing for months. A handful of Republicans joined Democrats in signing a discharge petition to force the vote.

To become law it must be passed ‌in the Senate, whose Republican leaders have not allowed votes on ‌Russia sanctions legislation that has broad bipartisan support, saying they would wait for Trump’s guidance.

If it did pass the Senate, the bill would likely be vetoed by Trump. While many members of Congress from both parties strongly supported Ukraine in the first years ⁠after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022, some of Trump’s closest Republican allies – including House and Senate leadership – have grown cooler towards Kyiv since Trump returned to the White House in January 2025.

The president has also kept decisions on sanctions at the White House, not Congress, since starting his second term.

The ​International Atomic Energy Agency has announced it has negotiated a temporary local ceasefire between Ukraine and ⁠Russia, the sixth since late last year, allowing repairs to a power supply line to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“A localised ceasefire brokered by the IAEA took effect on the frontline near the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) today, paving the way for crucial power line repairs to prevent the threat of a nuclear accident,” the IAEA said in a post on X.

In the coming ‌days, technicians from both sides will begin repairing war-related damage to the 750-kilovolt Dniprovska power ⁠line after extensive demining of the area, it said.

The power line was disconnected more than two months ago, leaving Europe’s largest nuclear power plant reliant on a single 330 kV line to supply the electricity needed to cool its six shutdown reactors, the post said.

The ⁠ZNPP had lost access to this ⁠line several times in recent weeks, the IAEA ‌said, forcing ​it to operate ‌its emergency diesel generators.

A Russian attack killed a woman in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Thursday, the regional governor said.

Ivan Fedorov, writing ⁠on Telegram, ​said ⁠11 people had been injured ⁠in the incident ​involving ⁠glide bombs ‌in the region and air alerts were ‌intermittently imposed throughout ‌the evening.

Earlier in the day, a Russian attack on the town of Yampil, in Sumy Region near the border with Russia, killed two people, regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said on Telegram.

Asked about an AP investigation tracking 191 incidents across Europe, including sabotage, cyberattacks, attempted assassination and other activity that Western officials say are part of a Russian-masterminded campaign, Vladimir Putin said there was no detailed proof of Moscow’s involvement.

“What are the specific facts? What has been proven?” he said, adding that the accusations showed that Europe was not ready to talk to Russia as an equal partner.

“This only shows that certain political figures in the West are trying to carry out aggressive plans against the Russian Federation,” he said.

Asked whether Russia could contribute to a settlement of the war in Iran, Putin responded that Moscow’s proposal to take enriched uranium from Iran for storage remains on the table. He noted Russia did so as part of the 2015 deal between Iran and world powers, “and we are ready to do it now.”

President Vladimir Putin has vowed that Russia will strengthen its air defences to counter recent Ukrainian drone attacks, which have reached deep inside his country and cast a cloud over his showcase economic forum in his hometown of St Petersburg.

Speaking in response to a question from The Associated Press during a meeting with heads of international news agencies, Putin acknowledged the damage from Ukrainian drone attacks.

“To our regret, some of them break through,” Putin said of the drone strikes. “Russia has an air defense system, we need to improve it, strengthen it, and we will do that.”

Russian president Vladimir Putin said that his forces fired the medium-range Oreshnik ballistic missile on Kyiv last month as a test to observe the impact of the deadly missile.

“I’ll reveal a major military state secret. We simply struck where it was convenient to observe the results,” Putin told reporters yesterday in a press briefing.

Republican leaders urged their members to oppose the legislation. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said there are good-faith negotiations between members of Congress and the White House to boost Ukraine.

He described the negotiations as complicated.

“I think they are going to yield positive results, but you set that back if you pass legislation that doesn’t go as far as the negotiations are going,” Scalise said.

US-led peace efforts have fizzled out as the sides made no progress on key differences and after the war in Iran grabbed Washington’s attention.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accepted an unconditional ceasefire demanded by Trump, but Vladimir Putin has refused.

President ⁠Donald Trump has welcomed Volodymyr Zelensky’s initiative to call for a direct meeting with Vladimir Putin.

The US president said ​it ⁠would ⁠be ​great ⁠if ‌the leaders ‌of Ukraine ‌and Russia ⁠met to discuss ending the ‌war ​in ‌Ukraine.