Latest U.S. weapons assistance arrives in Ukraine

The first shipments of the latest round of U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, which includes heavier weapons systems, started arriving in the region over the weekend, according to the Pentagon. 

The recently approved $800 million in security assistance includes Howitzer artillery systems, 40,000 artillery rounds, armored personnel vehicles, and other weapons. 

A senior U.S. defense official said Monday that four flights of shipments from the assistance package arrived in the region over the weekend with a fifth expected in the next 24 hours. The official did not detail which weapons from the recent package landed in the region first. 

On Tuesday, a senior defense official said that assistance to Ukraine can be deployed incredibly fast: in as little as 48-72 hours, the process of receiving necessary approvals, gathering, and shipping the equipment can be completed.

Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby in a press briefing said the Defense Department expects to start training Ukrainian trainers outside of Ukraine on how to use the U.S.-provided Howitzers in the coming days. The Ukrainian trainers will then return to Ukraine and train more troops.

According to Kirby, the training isn't expected to take long since the Ukrainians already know how to use artillery systems and merely need to familiarize themselves with the American systems. The Ukrainians use 152mm artillery systems, and the U.S. is providing 155mm artillery systems. 

The Russians have refocused on the Donbas region after failing to control Kyiv. The Pentagon assesses they are now conducting "staging operations," which involves "setting the conditions for more aggressive, more overt and larger ground maneuvers" in the east, according to Kirby.

The impending fight in the east is expected to rely more on armored vehicles and artillery systems than in the north since the terrain in southeastern Ukraine is more flat and wide open. 

"The artillery is a specific item the Ukrainians asked for because of the specific fighting they expect is going to occur in the Donbas," Kirby said on Monday. "And we know the Russians also believe the same thing because we see them moving artillery units into the Donbas as well." 

On Tuesday, Kirby observed that fighting in the Donbas would be characterized by "a whole different type of fighting," that would entail long-range firing and artillery. He acknowledged that in the future, "it is certainly within the realm of the possibility that the Ukrainians will want additional artillery systems and additional artillery rounds and we will have those conversations with them and we will if that's the need, we'll do everything we can to meet it."

Taiwan TV station apologizes after mistakenly saying China was invading the island

A Taiwanese television station apologized Wednesday for "causing public panic" when it erroneously ran a series of alerts saying China had launched attacks on the island.

Taiwan's 23 million people live under constant threat of an invasion by China, which views the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory to be re-taken one day, by force if necessary.

Taipei-based Chinese Television System (CTS) sparked alarm when it aired several news alerts on its screen including "New Taipei City hit by Communist army's guided missiles" and "Vessels exploded, facilities and ships damaged in Taipei port."

Other alerts said, "Communist China's frequent war preparations, the President issued emergency order" and "War could break out, New Taipei City opens joint emergency command and control center."

CTS attributed the blunder to staff who mistakenly put out content from disaster prevention drills that the station was commissioned to produce for New Taipei City's fire department.

"CTS offers its sincere apology that this serious flaw has caused panic among the public and trouble to relevant units," the company said in a statement.

The false war alerts hit a nerve at a time of heightened fears in Taiwan raised by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and concerns China might similarly one day follow through on threats to annex its smaller neighbor.

CTS said it ran corrections and apologies on multiple channels, adding that it will "severely punish" those responsible after initiating an internal probe.