By Francesca Hangeior

President Donald Trump has said the United States will send additional weapons to Ukraine, triggering Russian criticism after Moscow claimed new gains in its grinding war against its neighbor.

The Kremlin warned Tuesday that sending arms to Ukraine only serves to prolong the conflict, a day after Trump’s pledge for “more weapons” for Ukraine to defend itself.

“It is obvious of course that these actions probably do not align with attempts to promote a peaceful resolution,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying in a briefing.

Trump’s announcement to send weapons to Ukraine Monday followed Washington saying last week that it was halting some weapons shipments to Kyiv, leaving Ukrainian officials caught off guard and scrambling for clarity.

A pause poses a potentially serious challenge for Kyiv, which is contending with some of Russia’s largest missile and drone attacks of the more than three-year war.

“We’re going to have to send more weapons — defensive weapons primarily,” Trump told journalists at the White House.

“They’re getting hit very, very hard,” he said of Ukraine, while adding that he was “not happy” with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump has reportedly promised to immediately send 10 Patriot interceptors — anti-missile systems — to Ukraine, according to US news website Axios.

Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and has shown little willingness to end the conflict despite pressure from Trump.

The US president’s pledge to ship more arms to Ukraine came after Moscow said Monday that its forces captured its first village in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region after advancing towards it for months.

Russia launched a fresh large-scale drone and missile barrage before the announcement, including on Ukraine’s military recruitment centers.

Kyiv also said it carried out a drone attack on a Russian ammunition factory in the Moscow region.

Russia said its forces captured the village of Dachne in the Dnipropetrovsk region, an important industrial mining territory that has come under mounting Russian air attacks.

Last month, Moscow said its forces had crossed the border into the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in its campaign.

Russian forces appear to have made crossing the regional border a key strategic objective in recent months, and deeper advances there could pose logistical and economic problems for Ukraine.

Kyiv has so far denied any Russian foothold in Dnipropetrovsk.

Ukraine’s military said earlier Monday its forces “repelled” attacks in Dnipropetrovsk, including “in the vicinity” of Dachne.

Dnipropetrovsk is not one of the five Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Kherson, Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Crimea — that Moscow has publicly claimed as Russian territory.

Describing the situation in Dnipropetrovsk as “difficult” for Kyiv’s forces, Ukrainian military expert Oleksiy Kopytko said Russia hopes to create some kind of buffer zone in the region.

“Our troops are holding their ground quite steadily,” he told AFP.

The White House said last week it was halting some key weapons shipments to Ukraine that were promised under Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden, without providing details on which weapons programs were affected.

It said the decision was taken after a review of US defense needs and of its military assistance to foreign countries.

Kyiv has long feared halts to US aid after Trump returned to the White House in January, having criticized the tens of billions of dollars in support and weapons sent by Biden.

Under the Biden administration, Washington committed to providing more than $65 billion in military assistance to Ukraine.

Trump has announced no new military aid packages for Kyiv since taking office for the second time.

The Republican president instead has pushed the two sides into peace talks, including in phone calls with Putin. The Russian leader has rejected pleas for a ceasefire and demanded Ukraine cede more territory if it wants an end to the war.

Ahead of Trump’s remarks on Monday, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said air defense remained the “top priority for protecting lives,” and his country was counting on partners to “fully deliver on what we have agreed.”

By Francesca Hangeior

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has agreed to replace Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, during a recent phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump.

According to reports, the two sides were now in talks over possible successors, who would need approval from both countries, the UK newspaper said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

Markarova, who has served as ambassador in Washington since 2021, has been criticised by some Republicans for being too closely aligned with the Democratic Party.

Her replacement could be an attempt by Zelensky to appease Trump during a sensitive time for Ukraine.

Earlier, Washington withheld previously approved arms deliveries, as Russia continues heavy missile and drone strikes more than three years into its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Zelensky reportedly plans to announce Markarova’s replacement next week as part of a broader cabinet reshuffle, according to the newspaper, which cited insider sources.

The Ukrainian president has reorganised his cabinet several times since the start of the war.

A senior Ukrainian official told the newspaper that Zelensky intends to appoint someone who is a good dealmaker and understandable to the White House and at the same time to Congress.

The official said candidates for the position include Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov, the Financial Times said.

Balázs Jarábik, ex-EU diplomat in Kiev, noted that personnel changes seem aimed at managing growing political, economic, and social pressures through renewal and control, rather than signaling shifts, according to newspaper reports.

Police blocked roads in a show of force to deter anti-government marchers from the deserted streets of Kenya’s usually bustling capital on Monday, with small groups of protesters clashing with officers on Nairobi’s outskirts.

Many people appeared to be staying home rather than attend the annual so-called Saba Saba Day, meaning Seven Seven, marches to commemorate July 7, 1990 when Kenyans rose up to demand a return to multi-party democracy after years of autocratic rule by then-president Daniel arap Moi.

From around midday, AFP saw running battles with groups of anti-riot police who fired teargas at small gatherings, with some of the crowd throwing rocks at officers and engaging in destructive looting.

Young Kenyans, frustrated over economic stagnation, corruption and police brutality, are once again engaging in protests that last month degenerated into looting and violence, leaving dozens dead and thousands of businesses destroyed.

Protesters accuse the authorities of paying armed vandals to discredit their movement, while the government has compared the demonstrations to an “attempted coup”.

On Monday, the streets of central Nairobi were quiet after police mounted roadblocks on the main roads, restricting entry to areas that were the epicentre of previous rallies.

Many businesses were closed for the day.

“I have never witnessed the city centre like this,” security guard Edmond Khayimba, 29, told AFP.

While the centre remained deserted, groups gathered on the outskirts in the afternoon with AFP reporters witnessing two people wounded, as well as looting and vandalism.

Protesters on a major highway clashed with police blocking their entry into the city, with the small crowds chanting: “Ruto Must Go”, a popular rallying cry against President William Ruto, and “wantam” meaning “one term”.

Again, AFP saw looting and property destruction in the surrounding area.

With much of Nairobi at a standstill, an interactive map showing at least 20 suspected police roadblocks was shared online and through WhatsApp groups.

Local TV stations also showed gatherings, some violent, in several towns across the country.

– ‘Ruto Must Go’ –

Social media and rising economic expectations have fanned anger over inequalities in a country where around 80 percent are trapped in informal, poorly paid jobs.

But a crackdown by the police — at least 80 people have died in protests since June last year while dozens have been detained illegally — has scared many off the streets.

On Sunday, men, some armed with sticks, forced their way into the compound of the Kenyan Human Rights Commission during a press conference calling for an end to “enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings”.

Nairobi motorbike driver Rogers Onsomu, 32, told AFP that while the town was deserted, he hoped demonstrators would come out later, and criticised Ruto’s government.

“What he has promised the country, (he) is not delivering,” Onsomu said.

“The youths are protesting because of many things, like healthcare.”

“As the constitution say, the power belongs to people,” he said. “So this slogan of ‘Ruto Must Go’. We will not relent and we will keep it going each and every day.”

– ‘The world is different’ –

Since being elected in 2022, Ruto has forged an uneasy alliance with the main opposition leader Raila Odinga, leaving no clear challenger ahead of the next vote in 2027.

But each violent crackdown fuels further unrest, said activist Nerima Wako.

“Every time people organise a protest, they kill more people, so it just continues to feed off itself,” she said.

The previous demonstration on June 25 — intended to mark the peak of last year’s deadly anti-government rallies — turned violent and left 19 people dead, according to rights groups.

Police made hundreds of arrests.

Gabrielle Lynch, an African politics expert at Britain’s University of Warwick, said the government appeared to be recycling tactics from the 1990s.

“But we’re not in the nineties,” she said. “They don’t seem to have realised the world is different.”

AFP