US Congress

The US State Department has approved a possible sale of 500 Patriot PAC-3 missiles to Ukraine, valued at an estimated $2.1 billion. Canada, Germany and Norway are financing the purchase through the JUMPSTART programme, alongside Ukrainian national funds backed by an EU loan, with no US funds involved. Congress must still review the sale. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine had waited almost a month for the decision. Officials report that a Russian drone strike killed at least 14 people on a rail platform in Dnipro on Thursday, and that one person died in Kyiv in a late-evening missile strike.

Americans vote on Tuesday, 3 Nov, in midterm elections that will decide control of both chambers of Congress and 36 governorships. More than 57 million people had already cast ballots by Monday, according to the University of Florida Election Lab, figures sources describe as a record for a non-presidential year. Polls and Republican analysts expect Democrats to take the House and the Senate, while Republicans currently hold 218-214 in the House and 53-47 in the Senate. Polling stations close at different times, so results will arrive gradually overnight. President Donald Trump is not on the ballot and will remain in office regardless of the outcome.

The United Nations General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution on Wednesday calling for an end to the United States' embargo on Cuba, with 130 countries in favour, 17 against and 25 abstaining. The vote, held for the 34th consecutive year, is the lowest support for the measure since 1995, down from more than 160 countries the previous year. Western states including Germany, Italy and Latvia abstained for the first time in 34 years. Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel and Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez accused Washington of coercion, while U.S. Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz denied that Cuba faces a blockade.