New satellite image shows the destruction of Russia’s equipment at a Kherson airport

The Ukrainian military destroyed a number of Russian military helicopters at the Kherson International Airport Tuesday, new satellite images from Planet Labs show.

A large black plume of smoke is seen rising from the airport in the satellite image, with a number of helicopters on fire.

It’s the most destructive known strike the Ukrainian military has conducted against Russian helicopters during the war, with at least three Russian helicopters seen on fire, or destroyed, at the airport.

Military vehicles seen near the airport have also been hit. 

Another image, taken by a drone hovering above the nearby village of Komyshany, also shows the large plume of smoke rising from the airport. 

CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of the image.

The military strike at the airport was picked up by NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS), which tracks large fires around the world. 

According to the sensory data collected by FIRMS, the military strike occurred around 1:42 p.m. local time.

On Monday, satellite images from Maxar Technologies showed a number of Russian military helicopters on the tarmac at Kherson’s International Airport. Dozens of military vehicles are also seen in the surrounding area. 

US President Joe Biden is expected to announce an additional $800 million in security assistance for Ukraine, a US official said.

That would bring the total pledged to $1 billion in the past week and $2 billion since the beginning of the Biden administration. 

The new package will include antitank missiles, according to officials familiar with the plans. But it will stop short of the no-fly zone or fighter jets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said are needed to sustain Ukraine’s fight against Russia. 

Explosions were heard overnight in Kyiv’s suburbs as air raid sirens once again blared in the Ukrainian capital, according to a CNN team on the ground.

The blasts began after nightfall following Mayor Vitali Klitschko’s imposition of an extended curfew.

The 35-hour curfew runs from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 7 a.m. Thursday local time.

Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala said that the “main goal” of the Polish, Slovenian and Czech prime ministers’ visit to Kyiv was to tell Ukrainians they are “not alone” in their fight against the Russian invasion.

Speaking alongside his counterparts, Fiala called Tuesday’s opportunity to have an in-person discussion with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “something really special.”

He said he wanted to assure Ukrainians that we are “hosting your wives and children” and providing them with “refuge” in the Czech Republic.  

The Czech Republic has now taken in 250,000 refugees, according to the prime minister. 

“We admire your courage, and we will continue to provide more aid and support,” he concluded.

US President Joe Biden will unveil a new package of military assistance for Ukraine, including anti-tank missiles, as soon as Wednesday following an address to the US Congress by Ukrainian President Zelensky, according to officials familiar with the plans.  

The new assistance will stop short of the no-fly zone or fighter jets Zelensky has said are necessary to sustain Ukraine’s fight against Russia. 

But the new aid will include more of the defensive weapons the US has already been providing, including Javelins and Stingers. 

The Wall Street Journal first reported the new announcement of assistance.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are still negotiating how to revoke Russia’s permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status, after a provision that would do as much was scrapped from the bill that banned Russian energy imports last week. 

A plan to revoke Russia’s PNTR status was included in the bipartisan deal negotiated by the four corners of Congress but was pulled out of the legislation at the last minute when the White House asked Congress to narrow the scope of the legislation.

Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady, a Republican from Texas, told CNN on Tuesday, “there’s still discussions ongoing on Congress’ role.”

Brady said the discussions revolve around what role Congress will play in making trade decisions going forward and maintaining the stake Congress has in those decisions.

“I’m hopeful we can conclude that but right now, we don’t have the final text yet,” he said.

But Brady was still hopeful that a conclusion could be reached by the end of the week.

US President Joe Biden is confronting a daily deluge of pressure from lawmakers on Capitol Hill to do more — and act faster — to help Ukraine as Russian President Vladimir Putin intensifies his bloody attacks across the country.

Those calls are poised to only grow louder on Wednesday after members of Congress hear fresh pleas for assistance directly from one man who is hunkered down in Kyiv: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Zelensky is set to deliver a rare wartime speech to Congress in the morning, less than two weeks after the Ukrainian leader held a virtual meeting with US lawmakers. He is widely expected to use Wednesday’s address — as he has in speeches to other friendly governments — to make an impassioned appeal yet again to the US for more help, including for certain kinds of military assistance that the Biden administration has already come out against.

Lawmakers and aides on Capitol Hill told CNN that they expect the next major round of deliberations in Washington on how to best aid Ukraine’s fight against Russia will, in no small part, hinge on what exactly Zelensky asks for when he speaks to Congress.

The speech comes as some on Capitol Hill are losing patience with the administration’s pace and its unwillingness — for now — to go as far as Zelensky has wanted in supplying fighter jets and imposing a no-fly zone over the country. Those two things are likely to be among the things the Ukrainian leader asks for in Wednesday’s speech, but the administration has ruled them out over concerns of how Putin would interpret those moves.

While the US government has largely responded to the war with a bipartisan support of Ukraine, patience is starting to wear thin for some lawmakers — including high-ranking Republicans who had been wary of criticizing the administration’s response until now. Biden and his administration have not responded as quickly as some in Congress would like as the President aims to keep American allies united in their response to the crisis.

“Everything Congress has asked to do, (the administration) has originally said no. And then later on, they say yes after our allies do it,” said Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “It’s slow. It’s excruciating.”

“We’re going to be hearing from Zelensky. So, I think depending upon what we hear then, and depending upon what action the White House takes next, we’ll see,” said Democratic Rep. Josh Gottheimer, who is one of many lawmakers who have advocated for sending fighter jets and other military machinery to Ukrainian forces. “In areas where we believe we need to push harder — and where we’re hearing from back home that we need to push harder — we’re going to express that to the White House.”

One chief of staff to a member of the House put it bluntly when asked which issue their boss was likely to public push for next: “(Zelensky’s) address to Congress will shape a lot of that,” they said.

Read more here.

As war rages in Ukraine, and refugees flee to nearby European countries, many individuals eventually hope to return.

In Poland, CNN’s Ed Lavandera found a train shuttling Ukrainians in both directions — some arriving, seeking safety, and others returning to their war-torn nation.

Mostly, reported Lavandera, it has been men returning to Ukraine. But on this day, the train platform featured many women, each feeling a sense of duty as their country fights to survive.

Another woman, Irina Orel, told Lavandera that while she is nervous about returning to Ukraine she admits to becoming numb to the violence.

“I’m anxious … but the feeling has become dull over time,” she said. “I just want to be next to my family.”

In a sense, said Orel, returning home is a way of standing up and fighting for her country.

“We have all become united during this time. Each one doing what they can to help our military. Women are doing it and men as well,” she said.

Mariia Halligan, yet another woman Lavandera met waiting for transport to Ukraine, spoke of a certain duty to fight what she’s labeling “Russian terrorists.”

As for the growing number of women Lavandera spotted, Halligan noted a certain role to be played for those not physically engaging in combat.

“I’m not man, I can’t kill, I’m woman. And my work keep balance, and help, and be kind, and care about relatives, family, friends. All we care,” she said.

“Now I feel that all Ukrainians [are] my relatives,” she added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine “truly trusts” its partners and is “100% assured” that a positive outcome will be reached following a meeting with the Polish, Czech and Slovenian prime ministers in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky thanked Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša and Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala for their “wonderful support” of Ukraine when “so many other ambassadors have left Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion.” 

He continued that with “friends like this” Ukraine “can win.”

The three European leaders — who said they were representing the European Council at the Kyiv meeting — traveled to the Ukrainian capital by train.