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wise.com. Today.

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On State of the World. Crucial.

0:23

New weapons on the way to

0:25

Ukraine and horses on the loose

0:27

in London. Thanks

0:30

for listening to State of the

0:33

World from Npr. We bring you

0:35

the days most vital international stories

0:37

up close where they are happening.

0:40

It's Thursday, April twenty fifth. I'm

0:42

Christine Aerosmith. Buses

0:44

and lorries and black cabs

0:46

typically clog London's streets. But

0:49

horses one day this week?

0:51

Yes, First President Biden

0:54

has side and ninety five

0:56

billion dollar military aid package

0:58

sending arms to Ukraine, Israel,

1:00

and Taiwan. To

1:02

understand their impact, especially on the

1:04

battlefield in Ukraine, we're going to

1:07

hear from Npr National Security Correspondent

1:09

Greg Myrie. He spoke to

1:11

Elsa Chang. Oh, he's lesser with

1:14

Ukraine. What exactly is headed their way?

1:16

Well, the Pentagon immediately announced more

1:18

than twenty different types of weapons

1:21

and military equipment that are. We

1:23

headed to Ukraine in this initial

1:25

tranche. Worth around the a billion

1:28

dollars. Now, the list includes two

1:30

types of weapons Ukraine says it

1:32

urgently need. One is artillery shells.

1:34

The ground war in Eastern Ukraine

1:37

is largely in artillery war, and

1:39

Russia has a huge advantage. Ukrainian

1:41

military officers talk about a Russian

1:43

artillery fire outnumbering Ukrainian fire by

1:46

up. To ten to one. They say

1:48

they've had to ration shells and in

1:50

some cases they run out of ammunition

1:52

and had to retreat. This is allowed

1:54

Russia to be on the offensive in

1:56

recent months. Okay was the second type

1:59

of weapon. the. The key weapon is

2:01

air defense missiles. Ukraine's limited air defenses

2:03

have performed extremely well over the past

2:06

two years, but recently I've been more

2:08

vulnerable to attacks on cities and the

2:10

power grid. President blow to mirrors. Alinsky

2:13

said Russia recently fired or eleven missiles

2:15

and a sustained attack on a civilian

2:17

power plant outside the capital Kiev. The

2:20

Ukrainian shut down the first seven incoming

2:22

missiles, but then they ran out of

2:24

ammo and the last and more Russian

2:27

missiles hit the plant and cause power

2:29

outages and. Okay, so are are

2:31

these weapons new or any different? In

2:33

terms of what the Us has

2:35

sent before, yeah, there's one quite

2:37

powerful new weapon is an attack.

2:40

I'm at the Us missile that

2:42

can travel close to two hundred

2:44

miles south. Just this afternoon, National

2:46

Security Advisor Jake Solomon said the

2:48

U S recently begin shipping attack

2:50

I'm secretly without announcing it and

2:52

there are now plans to send

2:54

more. Another Us official said Ukraine's

2:56

has fired these missiles twice in

2:59

the past week or so against

3:01

Russian targets in southern Ukraine. Elsa.

3:03

This is really a significant development.

3:05

Ukraine has been pleading for these

3:08

longer range weapons, and the Biden

3:10

Administration had been resisting. That's how

3:12

does this type of missile. Scenes way

3:14

Ukraine can. Do on the battlefield

3:16

well. This will help. With Ukraine

3:18

hit valuable Russian targets far beyond

3:21

the front lines, in particular in

3:23

Southern Ukraine, this would include Russian

3:25

bases and the Crimean Peninsula, Russian

3:27

ships and the Black Sea. I

3:29

spoke about this with John Herbst,

3:32

he's a former Us ambassador to

3:34

Ukraine who southee Atlantic. Council He

3:36

says Russian leader Vladimir. Putin knows

3:38

this is a potential weak spot. Booted.

3:41

Has a real vulnerability. In.

3:43

Crimea and Southern Ukraine. He

3:46

needs to keep his troops

3:48

supply their you crazy, make

3:50

that supply route much less

3:52

efficient and thereby hinder Russian

3:54

military operations. I mean, I'm

3:57

listening to you talk raid but I remember last year

3:59

at this time. We were hearing all about a plan,

4:02

Ukrainian offensive, but it achieved far less

4:04

than was expected or at least advertised,

4:06

right? So how should we interpret today's

4:08

announcement? Well, John Herb says these U.S.

4:11

weapons are important. They may not completely

4:13

change the trajectory of the war. They

4:16

will give Ukraine the resources needed to

4:18

keep fighting this year. And he said

4:20

the gridlock in the U.S. Congress had

4:22

raised questions about whether the U.S. was

4:25

prepared to keep leading this effort in

4:27

Ukraine. We've had this extraordinary

4:29

spectacle over the last several months

4:32

of leaders coming from Europe and recently

4:34

from Japan and other places, pleading with

4:36

the United States to act as the

4:39

leader of the free world, unprecedented since

4:41

the end of World War II. Not a

4:43

good look for the United States. And

4:45

he says Ukraine lost soldiers and lost

4:48

ground over the past six months while

4:50

this assistance was stuck in Congress, but

4:52

this package reaffirms the U.S. commitment to

4:55

Ukraine. Okay. And this package, it

4:57

also includes assistance for both Israel and

4:59

for Gaza, right? Real quick. That's

5:02

right. Biden said that his support for

5:04

Israel remains ironclad and he's sending Israel

5:07

more air defense weapons. He cited the

5:09

recent air attacks from Iran. The

5:11

U.S. will also be sending a billion

5:14

dollars more in humanitarian aid to Gaza.

5:16

He said this will be sent as

5:18

soon as possible and that it must

5:20

reach the Palestinians there without delay. That's

5:24

NPR's national security correspondent,

5:27

Greg Myrie. Next,

5:29

to London, where on

5:31

Wednesday, commuters encountered an unexpected

5:33

cavalry charge. Here's

5:36

NPR's Lauren Freire. Russia or

5:38

England? And normally, things like this. But this morning, it sounded like

5:40

this. air. They're

5:43

a little bit more than a hundred miles

5:45

away. And it sounded like this. London.

6:00

several miles. A cabbie named Sean told

6:02

the BBC he saw a beautiful regal

6:04

white horse covered in blood. There was

6:07

a Mercedes parked outside the grove in

6:09

the hotel with its side smashed in,

6:11

covered in blood, all the windows smashed.

6:14

So getting the white horse had hit

6:16

that, run into it, drove around. Another

6:19

horse collided with a double-decker red

6:21

buff leaving its windshield shattered. These

6:23

are actually some of the most famous horses in

6:26

the world. The

6:30

high-powered cavalry are the ones you see outside

6:33

buffing and power, and it roils all the way through

6:35

in coordination. The horses live

6:37

in stables in Hyde Park. Today

6:39

they were out training for a

6:41

military parade when... A small group

6:43

of horses were spooked by some construction works

6:45

on a quiet side raid in Belgravia. That's

6:48

Lieutenant Colonel Matt Woodward, the cavalry's

6:50

commanding officer. He says the horses

6:52

threw soldiers from their saddles and

6:54

then bolted. A number of people

6:56

were injured. Passers by sought to

6:58

calm the horses by petting them.

7:01

As ever, we're grateful for due

7:03

consideration given by the members of the public

7:05

to not making loud noises around our horses.

7:07

He says the horses are now

7:09

home safe in their stables getting

7:11

veterinary care. Lauren Fryer, NPR News,

7:13

London. That's

7:15

the state of the world from NPR.

7:18

And if this update of London's

7:20

unexpected horse capade is something you

7:23

value, rate and review

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us on your podcast app. You

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can also support NPR's international reporting

7:29

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7:32

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