Biden: 'We're not withdrawing' support for Ukraine

In a national address from the White House on Oct. 19, United States President Joe Biden said he was going to send Congress an "urgent" funding request for aid to Ukraine and Israel on Oct. 20.

Biden did not specify the dollar amount of the request, but said it represented an "unprecedented commitment to Israel's security" and would allow transfers of weapons to Ukraine to continue without interruption.

Reuters earlier reported that the White House package would entail $60 billion in funds for Ukraine and $10 billion for Israel.

Biden dismissed Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's claims that Ukraine wouldn't survive a week without Western military aid.

"We're not withdrawing," Biden said.

In his address, Biden made the case that supporting Ukraine was a "smart investment." He said maintaining military aid to Ukraine was vital for both U.S. security and global stability.

"If we don't stop Putin's appetite for power and control in Ukraine, he won't limit himself just to Ukraine," he said.

Russian air strike on Beryslav in Kherson Oblast 

A Russian air strike in the morning of Oct. 20 against the town of Beryslav in Kherson Oblast killed an 80-year-old woman, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

Russian forces reportedly dropped four KAB guided aerial bombs against the town, killing the woman in her home.

Bombs also hit the nearby settlement of Novoberyslav; the consequences of this attack are still being established, Prokudin said.

Beryslav, with a pre-war population of 12,000 lying around 60 kilometers east of Kherson, was for a time occupied by Russian forces until its liberation in Ukraine's fall offensive last year.

Russian forces have recently intensified their attacks against Kherson Oblast with guided aerial bombs. Beryslav was targeted by 10 bombs during the past day, resulting in at least three people injured, the officials reported.

Russians struck Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast

The Russians launched a missile attack on the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi in Kupiansk district at around midnight. A strike was recorded, the surrounding shops were damaged, but there were no casualties.

Over the past day, the Russians fired on settlements in Chuhuiv, Izium and Kupiansk districts with artillery, mortars, rocket launchers and other weapons.

The attack on the town of Vovchansk in Chuhuiv district damaged a children and youth centre and four residential buildings. Two men aged 57 and 69 were injured.