Biden promises aid to Ukraine, Zelenskyy to address Congress: LIVE UPDATES

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Wednesday that Ukraine won’t become a member of NATO “any time soon.”

The remark comes a day after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalenskyy
said he knows his country does not have an open door to NATO membership and should instead find ways to protect itself with the help of security guarantees.

Johnson said “the reality of the position” is that “there is no way Ukraine is going to join NATO any time soon,” according to the Associated Press.

Russia has opposed Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO.

Russia’s chief negotiator in talks with Ukraine
said Wednesday that Ukraine is discussing a possible compromise in which it would have a smaller, non-aligned military going forward, the Associated Press reports, citing Russian news agencies.

“A whole range of issues tied with the size of Ukraine’s army is being discussed,” Russian negotiator Vladimir Medinsky reportedly said. “Ukraine is proposing an Austrian or Swedish option of a neutral state, but a state that has its own army and navy.”

Medinsky said the issues are being discussed in the Russian and Ukrainian defense ministries.

The report comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zalenskyy said Wednesday that Russia’s demands were becoming “more realistic.” Talks are expected to continue today.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted that the talks were a “very difficult and viscous negotiation process.

“There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise,” he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine upended Chinese President Xi Jinping’s timetable to invade Taiwan, according to documents purportedly written by a Russian intelligence analyst in one of Moscow’s security agencies. 

“Xi Jinping was at least considering taking over Taiwan in the fall – he needs his own little victory to get re-elected for a third term – there the struggle within the elite is colossal,” an agent in Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor agency to the KGB, allegedly wrote on March 9.

China will hold its 20th Communist Party Congress this fall, and Xi has said it will be a “major event.” Analysts have predicted that Xi will either be re-elected as the general secretary of the Communist Party or be elected to the chairmanship of the party, a position that has not existed since 1982. 

“Now, after the Ukrainian events, this window of opportunity has been closed to him, which gives the United States the opportunity to both blackmail Xi and negotiate with its competitors on favorable terms,” the FSB agent added. “It was in this case that we launched a trap mechanism for China with our actions.” (READ MORE)

Russian forces attacking the port city of Mariupol have left its residents “on the verge of survival,” a Ukrainian coordinator for the humanitarian corridors told Fox News Digital.

“In cities like Mariupol, where there’s no light, water, air, heat, food, mobile communications, people are on the verge of survival,” Tetiana Lomakina said. “According to eyewitnesses, their only saving grace is that relatives, friends and neighbors are helping each other, cooking on fires, taking water from streams or melting… the snow, lighting their homes with kerosene lamps, sleeping on the cold floor, which has caused mass illnesses among children and the elderly.”

“There is no medicine. This is inhuman suffering,” she added.

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy awarded 139 state awards to Ukrainian soldiers, 32 of them posthumously, “For personal courage and selfless actions shown in defense of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, loyalty to the military oath.”

“Russia is systematically destroying Ukraineʼs civilian infrastructure, it destroyed 3,500 infrastructure facilities: transport, social, health care facilities, educational and social institutions. More than 2700 houses were destroyed,” said the Ukrainian Emergency State Service.

As the Russia-Ukraine war drags on, one small business owner from New Jersey with deep roots in Ukraine is doing her part to help Ukrainian refugees any way she can. 

Lana Riggins, a Ukraine-born knitwear designer, is selling blue and yellow varsity sweater jackets to benefit a local charity that’s supporting Ukraine.

“Kyiv and Kharkiv are very dear to my heart. I have friends in both towns,” Riggins said in a phone interview. 

Riggins moved to the U.S. from Ukraine in 1994 to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City, she said. 

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Translation: “Uninvited guests will not sleep peacefully on Ukrainian soil – our artillerymen greet them warmly everywhere,” Ukraine Defense Ministry said.

Humanitarian cargo weighing 15 tons has arrived in Ukraine, including baby food from Italy, canned soups from Germany, sewing materials and medicines from the USA.

“In times of difficult trials, each of us must do our best for our joint victory. And now it is very important to provide assistance to the civilian population, because people will understand that they will not be left in trouble and will always be remembered,” said Lieutenant General Sergey Naev.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy during an address following 20 days of war: “I invite all friends of Ukraine to visit Kyiv. It can be dangerous here, because our skies are not yet closed from Russian missiles and planes.”

A Ukrainian official said said negotiations with Russia to end the war were “very difficult” as there are “fundamental contradictions,” but said they would continue.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, added: “There is certainly room for compromise.” 

“We’ll continue tomorrow. A very difficult and viscous negotiation process. There are fundamental contradictions. But there is certainly room for compromise,” tweeted Podolyak.

A social media account for Vice President Kamala Harris stated Tuesday in a now-deleted tweet that the United States is supporting Ukraine “in defense of the NATO alliance,” which the Ukraine is not a part of.

“When I was in Poland, I met with U.S. and Polish service members, thanking them for standing with our NATO allies for freedom, peace, and security,” a tweet from the @KamalaHarris account stated. “The United States stands firmly with the Ukrainian people in defense of the NATO alliance.”

The remarks made in the tweet, which featured a photo of Harris greeting American and Polish service members, come on the heels of similar statements she made while addressing House Democrats over the weekend at the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) winter meeting in D.C.

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Ukrainian Leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy won’t be the first world leader to speak to both the House and Senate when he speaks virtually tomorrow. But this could be the most any world leader has had on the line when they spoke to Congress in 81 years.

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke to Congress on December 26, 1941 — weeks after the U.S. entered World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

Churchill addressed lawmakers in the Senate chamber before movie cameras and added klieg lights. Multiple microphones from NBC, CBS and MBS (the Mutual Broadcasting System) sprang up in front of Churchill on the Senate dais.

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After signing a massive $1.5 trillion government funding bill Tuesday (which includes $13.5 billion in Ukraine assistance), President Biden will announce over $1 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.

The president will announce an additional $800 million in funding, in addition to the $200 million announced on Saturday.

The funding comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is set to deliver a remote address to Congress Wednesday, during which he is expected to outline a list of equipment the Ukrainians feel they need to fend off the Russian invasion.

Read more here.