Ukraine invasion: UK and US among 27 nations which have agreed to give more weapons and military aid to country, Sky News understands | World News

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A total of 27 nations, including the UK, other European countries, and the US, have agreed to give more weapons, medical supplies and other military aid to Ukraine as it fights a Russian invasion, Sky News understands.

The UK’s defense secretary, Ben Wallace, organised a donor conference of military aid on Friday evening, which was held virtually.

Twenty-five nations were on the call and agreed to contribute. NATO was also represented.

In addition, two other countries that could not make the conference said separately that they would donate support.

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0:32 Fresh explosions heard overnight in Kyiv

The assistance includes lethal aid, like ammunition, anti-tank weapons and anti-air weapons, and non-lethal aid such as medical supplies.

It is understood that the aid is able to reach the Ukrainian military even as they battle Russian forces on multiple frontlines.

Sky News also understands that countries which had previously been against sending weapons to help the Ukrainian armed forces have now decided to do so following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade his neighbor.

The donating nations include countries that are not part of the NATO defense alliance.

Read more: Russian invasion of Ukraine mapped

Key developments:

• According to the UK’s Ministry of Defense, Russian forces have made advances throughout the day – “but continue to face strong resistance from the Ukrainian Armed Forces”• Ukraine also “retains control of key cities”• China has abstained from voting on a draft UN Security Council resolution that would have deplored Moscow, in what will be seen as a diplomatic win for the West• The UK is going to direct sanctions on Vladimir Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov imminently. The EU also plans to freeze their assets, and the US intends to do the same

Heavy gunfire and explosions have been heard in Kyiv overnight and fighting broke out in various cities in Ukraine as the invasion enters its third day.

Clashes are also under way in the cities of Mariupol, Kherson, Mykolaiv and Odessa, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s office said.

Russia’s military said it has taken over Melitopol, a city in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, but UK armed forces minister James Heappey told Sky News it is “still in Ukrainian hands”.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a video message on Saturday morning in which he promised their troops would keep fighting and dismissing as “fake news” claims he had asked them to give up.

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0:40 ‘Listen, I am here’ – Zelenskyy vows to fight on

In a message posted on social media on Friday night, he urged his fellow countrymen and women to “persevere”, adding, “this night the enemy will use all its forces to break our resistance – vile, cruel and inhuman. Tonight they will storm .”

The additional aid comes after NATO announced it will deploy more troops to eastern Europe.

“No one should be fooled by the Russian government’s barrage of lies,” the alliance’s 30 leaders said in a joint statement after a virtual summit chaired by Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Friday.

“We are now making significant additional defensive deployments of forces to the eastern part of the alliance,” the statement said.

Ukraine is not part of the alliance and other members are therefore not obliged to defend it if it is attacked.

:: An earlier version of this story stated 28 countries had agreed to send more weapons. This has since been clarified to 27.

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