Biden Administration Extends Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainian Nationals Living in US

The U.S. Homeland Security Department announced Friday that it was extending its Temporary Protected Status for Ukrainian and Sudanese nationals through spring 2025 because of the humanitarian crises in these war-torn countries.

Homeland Security also announced measures that would allow more Ukrainian and Sudanese nationals in the U.S. to apply for the status, including students from these countries who are studying in the United States so they can maintain their student status, even if they take fewer courses to work more.

“Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and the resulting humanitarian crisis requires that the United States continue to offer safety and protection to Ukrainians who may not be able to return to their country,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote. “We will continue to offer our support to Ukrainian nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”

The extension, from October 20, 2023, through April 19, 2025, will benefit about 26,000 current Ukrainian nationals with TPS, and it makes an estimated 166,700 additional applicants eligible for the temporary status, the department said.

Ukraine grain

Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta has emerged as the best shipping route for Ukraine’s grain exports since Russia left the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal, leaving the Black Sea corridor unprotected from Russian attacks.

“We hope that over 60% of the total volume of Ukrainian grain exports will transit Romania,” Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said after meeting Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Bucharest.

Constanta was one of the best alternative seaports for Ukrainian grain shipping even before the Black Sea grain deal was canceled.

Ukraine exported 8.1 million metric tons of grain through Constanta in the first seven months of this year, and 8.6 million metric tons throughout 2022.

While Romania is looking at boosting the transit of Ukrainian grain through Constanta to international markets, it is also looking at ways to protect local farmers from a surge of Ukrainian grain that could depress local grain prices.

Protests from farmers in Romania and four other eastern European Union countries prompted the EU to approve temporary trade restrictions of Ukrainian grain imports there.

The import ban expires September 15, and the five states have asked for it to be extended, at least until the end of the year.

Climbing casualties

The number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 is nearing 500,000, The New York Times reported Friday, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

The officials cautioned that casualty estimates were difficult because Moscow is believed to routinely underreport its war dead and injured and Kyiv does not provide official figures, the newspaper said.

However, the newspaper estimated that Russia’s military casualties were approaching 300,000, including as many as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injuries. Ukrainian deaths were close to 70,000, with 100,000 to 120,000 wounded, it said.

The Times cited the officials as saying the casualty count had risen since Ukraine began its counterattack earlier this year.

The Ukrainian military on Thursday claimed gains in its counteroffensive against Russian forces on the southeastern front. Kyiv said its forces had liberated the village of Urozhaine, about 90 kilometers north of the Sea of Azov and about 100 kilometers west of Russian-held Donetsk city.

The advance is part of a drive toward the Sea of Azov and an effort to split Russia’s occupying forces in half.

However, Kyiv says its counteroffensive is advancing more slowly than it had hoped for because of vast Russian minefields and heavily fortified Russian defensive lines.

“Nothing ever goes as well as you would hope. They put mines everywhere. In a square meter, they’re [Ukrainian soldiers] finding five and six mines,” said General James B. Hecker, commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe and U.S. Air Forces Africa, speaking virtually Friday to the Defense Writers Group.

Meanwhile, the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, along with its humanitarian partners, is mobilizing more assistance to people in the Kharkiv region in the east, where fighting has recently intensified.

This week, two interagency convoys delivered 75 tons of food, materials for emergency home repairs, hygiene kits and other essential household items to communities close to the front line.

One of the convoys reached Kupiansk city with supplies for the surrounding areas. Civilians in this area have endured weeks of hostilities, with damage to houses and other civilian infrastructure and disruption of critical services.

Humanitarians are also supporting people being evacuated by the authorities from front-line areas to Kharkiv city and other safer locations.

F-16 fighter jets

The United States has given the nod to allies Denmark and the Netherlands to send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, according to officials. It was not immediately clear when Ukraine might receive the jets, and its pilots will need extensive training.

Hecker said there were no prospects currently for either Ukraine or Russia to gain the upper hand in the air.

“I don’t think anyone’s going to get air superiority as long as the number of surface-to-air missiles stays high enough,” Hecker said, responding to a question from VOA.

Hecker did note that if Ukraine ran out of its integrated air and missile defense ammo, “then it becomes a problem.”

“Both Ukraine and Russia have very good integrated air and missile defense systems,” he said. “That alone is what has prevented people [Russia or Ukraine] from getting air superiority.”

In a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said: “We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.”

U.N. Correspondent Margaret Besheer and VOA National Security Correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.