WORLD BRIEFING: May 14, 2024

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells President Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid is "now on its way" during a surprise visit to Kyiv. The top US diplomat tells the Ukrainian president the weapons will "make a real difference" against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield. A senior US official says the American-funded weapons now arriving at the front line include air defence interceptors, artillery and ATACMS long-range precision guided missiles. The visit comes as the country struggles to hold back a major Russian incursion near its second biggest city of Kharkiv. The cross-border offensive in Kharkiv region is one of the most significant Russian ground attacks since the start of the war. Earlier UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps tells the BBC he thinks the world "took its eye off the ball" regarding Ukraine's need for arms - BBC

Russian troops were locked in intense battles with Ukrainian soldiers around the embattled town of Vovchansk in northeast Ukraine on Monday, pushing ahead with a ground offensive that opened a new front and put more pressure on overstretched Ukrainian forces. Moscow’s renewed northeast offensive, launched late last week, was the most significant border incursion since the full-scale invasion began. In just two days, Moscow has captured from 100 to 125 square kilometers (38 to 47 square miles) that include at least seven villages, most of them already depopulated, according to two open source monitoring analysts. Vovchansk, among the largest towns in the area whose pre-war population of 17,000 had dwindled to just 2,500 before Russia renewed its ground assault last week, has emerged as a key focus of the pitched battles engulfing the Kharkiv region. By Monday, only 200 to 300 residents remained, said Kharkiv Gov. Oleh Syniehubov, as Russian forces closed in from three sides. Poorly built fortifications and long-term ammunition shortages enabled Russia’s sweeping advance in the area since Friday, local officials and soldiers said. The Kremlin’s forces were seeking to divert and distract Ukrainian troops across the 1,000-kilometer (620-mile) front line until a big batch of new military aid for Kyiv from the U.S. and European partners arrives on the battlefield in the coming weeks and months, Ukrainian commanders and analysts said. - AP

Humanitarian aid is dwindling in Gaza as the two main crossings near Rafah, the southern Gaza city, remained closed Monday and aid workers struggled to distribute shrinking supplies and food to hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians. U.N. deputy spokesperson Farhan Haq said during a news briefing Monday that the distribution of humanitarian aid in the enclave has come to a halt. “There is still no traffic of humanitarian goods going through the Rafah crossing, which is closed,” he said. “And there is still a lack of safe and logistically viable access to the Kerem Shalom crossing. We are trying to get things, including through the Erez crossing, but the amount of stuff traveling has been very small in recent days.” He added “at this stage we are rationing fuel … we are very low on fuel.” Haq announced that a staff member with the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (DSS) was killed, and another injured in Gaza when their U.N. vehicle was struck Monday on the way to the European Hospital of Rafah - VOA

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze has backed the parliament to pass a controversial "foreign agent" bill, which is seen by many as a threat to free speech and the country's drive toward membership in the European Union. Georgian police arrested 20 people as they violently dispersed a rally outside parliament on May 13 as lawmakers from the ruling Georgian Dream party rushed the approval of the bill through the Legal Committee. Kobakhidze said in a press conference after the bill cleared the committee that lawmakers will "act in accordance with the rational will of the majority of the population" and pass the bill in its final reading on May 14. He accused the protesters of "following the agenda of the political minority" and charged that they were showing a "great irresponsibility" toward their country. Two U.S. citizens and a Russian national reportedly were among those arrested outside parliament, although no details about their identities were immediately made public - RFE/RL