Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the US for the new package of $800 million in military aid, which he said was “just what we were waiting for.” The latest military aid, announced Thursday by President Joe Biden, includes heavy artillery, ammunition and drones for the escalating battle in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Zekenskyy has urged Western countries to speed up the deliveries of weapons to help Ukraine fend off the Russian offensive. “The occupiers continue to do everything possible to give themselves a reason to speak about at least some kind of victory,” Zelenskyy said late Thursday in his nightly video address to the nation.

“They are building up their forces, bringing in new tactical battalions and trying even to begin a so-called mobilisation' in the regions they occupy in Ukraine.” Zelenskyy also warned Ukrainians living in areas of southern Ukraine under the control of Russia troops not to provide them with their IDs, which he said could be used “to falsify a so-called referendum on our land” to create a Moscow-friendly government.

Prominent Americans banned

Russia's foreign ministry has announced that it has barred US Vice President Kamala Harris, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and 27 other prominent Americans from entering the country. But one of the people targeted by the sanctions, US State Department spokesman Ned Price, said he views the designation as an honour.

“I have to say it is nothing less than an accolade to earn the ire of a government that lies to its own people, brutalises its neighbors and seeks to create a world where freedom and liberty are put on the run and, if they have their way, extinguished,” Price told reporters in Washington.

In a statement on its website Thursday, the ministry says the move came as a response to “ever-widening anti-Russian sanctions” brought on by the Biden administration. It claimed to be targeting top executives, public intellectuals and journalists shaping what it referred to as “the Russophobic narrative” prevailing in US public debate.

Alongside Harris and Zuckerberg, the ban includes top defense and justice officials; the CEOs of LinkedIn and Bank of America; high-profile foreign affairs commentators; as well as the editor of the Russia-focused Meduza news website.

Top General tapped

President Joe Biden has tapped retired Lt. Gen. Terry Wolff, a former three-star Army general and former National Security Council official during the Obama administration, to coordinate billions of dollars security assistance being sent into Ukraine.

Wolff recently joined the Biden White House but his appointment has not been formally announced, according to a White House official who was not authorized to comment and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Wolff as Army officer served three tours of duty in Iraq and has held senior roles at the Pentagon, Joint Staff, and State Department. He was tapped by the Obama administration in 2015 to serve as deputy special presidential envoy for the global coalition to counter the Islamic State.

Wolff's latest appointment comes as Biden on Thursday announced that he was sending a new tranche of $800 million of security assistance to Ukraine, including heavy artillery and drones. The president, who has already approved the dispersal of about $3.4 billion in military assistance, said he will soon seek approval from Congress for additional security assistance for Ukraine.

Congress approved $6.5 billion for military assistance last month as part of $13.6 billion in spending for Ukraine and allies in response to the Russian invasion.

Rising deaths in Mariupol

The Mariupol City Council says as many as 9,000 civilians could be buried in mass graves in the village of Manhush outside Mariupol.

In a post on Telegram, the city council quoted Mariupol Mayor Vadym Boychenko calling the site ”the new Babi Yar.” “Then Hitler killed Jews, Roma and Slavs. And now Putin is destroying Ukrainians. He has already killed tens of thousands of civilians in Mariupol,” he was quoted as saying. “This requires a strong reaction from the entire world. We need to stop the genocide by any means possible.”

In a separate statement earlier Thursday, Boychenko alleged the Russians had dug huge trenches near Manhush, 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) west of Mariupol, and were “hiding their war crimes” by dumping bodies there.

On Thursday evening, Ukrainian media published satellite photos of Manhush, showing what they said were mass graves similar to the ones discovered in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha. The accuracy of these claims and images could not be immediately verified.

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