Ukraine's European allies on Friday pledged more than 21 billion euros in new military aid for Ukraine during a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) in Brussels, Belgium.
British Defense Secretary John Healey said that the allies reached the agreement to step up weapon deliveries to Ukraine, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius announced at the meeting that Germany would send four IRIS-T air defense systems, and multiple kinds of weapons to Ukraine.
However, Pistorius declined the call from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for more Patriot systems, saying that Germany is currently unable to continue supplying Patriot systems to Ukraine, as Germany itself is awaiting the delivery of the system.
Russia said that its forces shot down dozens of Ukrainian drones in Kursk and Belgorod. The Russian Ministry of Defense said that Ukraine launched strikes on Russia's energy facilities, attacking five times in the past 24 hours on energy facilities in Bryansk, Kursk, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia.
Also on Friday, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said that 148 battles took place on the frontline in the previous day.
It also said that Ukrainian forces repelled attacks from Russian forces in multiple directions, and its air forces, missile units, and artillerymen struck 13 concentration areas of Russian personnel, weapons and military equipment, one air defense system and two artillery systems.
In the direction of Kursk, 24 fights of different intensity were fought, said the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Ukraine's allies pledge more military aid as conflicts continue
Permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations (UN) Danny Danon on Thursday denied that any discussions had occurred between Israel and the UN regarding delivering humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Danon made these remarks at the UN headquarters in response to a query from a China Central Television (CCTV) reporter about the ongoing failure to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Israel blocked the entry of goods and supplies into Gaza on March 2, following the end of the first phase of a January ceasefire deal with Hamas. It resumed attacks on Gaza on March 18.
With no food, no supplies, and no relief in sight, Gazans have been enduring a relentless fight for survival.
In response to mounting international condemnation, Israel has proposed that its military take over the distribution of aid - a move widely criticized by the international community.
Briefing a Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher noted that the UN has met for over 12 times with the Israeli authorities regarding the latter's proposed aid distribution model, yet no solution had been found.
Danon, however, stated that no discussions have taken place in recent weeks regarding the issue.
"I don't know about that. Actually I listened to Mr. Fletcher's remarks at the Security Council the other day, and I can tell you that he visited Israel but he had no discussion about that fund because it was way back and in the last few weeks there was no dialogue about that. I would expect UN officials to engage when they want to speak about issues they know how to reach us, they know how to reach the U.S. mission. We are here to engage," he said.
"They got some information from the media, I assume. But I think they should look into that and to realize that if they want to be involved, that is the way to be involved," he added, reiterating that the UN has not reached out.
In response to Danon's denial, the United Nations reaffirmed its position, standing by the public statement released by Fletcher.
"I heard what he said, and we stand by what Mr. Fletcher has said," Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for UN Secretary-General noted later on the day, commenting on Danon's statement.
"Mr. Fletcher gave the details," he continued.
Israel envoy denies discussions with UN on enabling Gaza aid deliveries
