90 tonnes of US lethal aid arrives in Ukraine

The United States says the first shipment of military aid promised by President Joe Biden to Ukraine amid the standoff with Russia has arrived in Kyiv.

Washington has also endorsed a move by the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to send US-made weapons to Ukraine.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted on Saturday to salute the three NATO nations and former Soviet republics “for their longstanding support to Ukraine”.

Late on Friday the US embassy in Kyiv tweeted photos of a consignment it said had just arrived from the US, with “close to 200,000 pounds of lethal aid, including ammunition for the front line defenders of Ukraine”.

The shipment demonstrated Washington’s “commitment to helping Ukraine bolster its defenses in the face of growing Russian aggression”, the embassy said on Twitter.