LIVE UPDATES: Zelensky Meets with Prime Ministers of Poland, Czech Republic & Slovenia in Kiev

President Joe Biden is expected to announce that his administration will provide Ukraine with a new $1 billion security assistance package as early as Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported citing US officials.

The report said on Tuesday that the military assistance package will include anti-armor and anti-air systems, including Javelin and Stinger missiles.

The $1 billion security package will come from the $13.6 billion that Congress recently approved to assist Ukraine.

All railway lines that once connected Crimea and the Kherson region of Ukraine but were later destroyed by the Ukrainian side will be fully restored, Crimean parliament speaker Vladimir Konstantinov said in an interview with Sputnik.

Earlier, Crimean leader Sergey Aksyonov said the railroad from Crimea to Kherson had been technically restored. The route is currently used for the delivery of humanitarian aid and building materials. The line was dismantled eight years ago by Ukrainian nationalists on the border of Crimea and the Kherson region near Armyansk. Crimea and the southeastern part of Ukraine had previously been connected by another railway line going toward the city of Melitopol, the Zaporizhzhia region.

"You can [count on a full-fledged transport connection with Ukraine]. It is already being restored. And in the future, transit through the Kherson region will definitely be restored - towards Odessa and Kharkov," Konstantinov said.

The Crimean parliament speaker said the second railway line going to the southeast of Ukraine will also be restored.

“Everything will be restored," he said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said talks between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations should continue, it is difficult, but important, the positions of the sides sound more realistic now, but more time is needed.

“Everyone needs to work in their place, including our representatives in the delegation at the talks with the Russian Federation. This is important, difficult, but important. Because any war ends with an agreement. Meetings continue, as I am informed, the positions at the negotiations sound more realistic. But more time is needed for the decisions to be in the interests of Ukraine," Zelensky said in his video message on Telegram.

The US Senate adopted a resolution condemning Russia and Russian President Vladimir Putin over the military operation in Ukraine.

The Senate passed the resolution by a voice vote on Tuesday.

A 24-year old Ukrainian journalist assisting Fox News covering the situation in Ukraine was killed on Monday alongside a Fox News cameraman, the network said on Tuesday.

“Ukrainian journalist Oleksandra ‘Sasha’ Kuvshinova, who was serving as a consultant for Fox News on the ground during the course of the Russian invasion, was killed Monday alongside Fox News cameraman Pierre Zakrzewski when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire,” the network said.

Kuvshinova was serving as a consultant to Fox News helping crews navigate Kiev while gathering information, Fox News Media CEO Suzanne Scott reportedly told staff on Tuesday.

The US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has become the first US company which announced a partial suspension of sales of its products to Russia, the company said on Tuesday.

"We also have suspended all investments, promotional activities, and new clinical trials in Russia, as well as the exportation of non-essential medicines to that country," the company said.

Now the operations in Russia of the group is focused on the sales of the drugs for those suffering from diseases like cancer and diabetes.

"Should we generate any profits from our sales in Russia, we will donate them to organizations dedicated to humanitarian relief," it added.

Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, who leads the ruling Law and Justice party, proposed sending a NATO peacekeeping mission to Ukraine.

“We need a NATO peacekeeping mission or, perhaps, one having even wider international composition. It should be a mission that will be able to defend itself, which will operate on the territory of Ukraine. Which, of course, with the consent of the president and government will be in the country, and it will not be an unarmed mission. A mission designed to bring peace, carry humanitarian aid, but protected by... the armed forces," Kaczynski said after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.

During almost a month of escalation, 49 civilians were killed, and another 237, including 13 children, were injured in the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), the DPR representative office in the Joint Center for Control and Coordination of the ceasefire regime (JCCC) said in a statement.

"During the 27 days of escalation by Ukrainian armed formations, 49 civilians were killed, during the current day - two. A total of 237 civilians, including 13 children, were injured. Over this day, 11 people were injured, four of them from territories previously liberated by the DPR Armed Forces," the office said on Telegram.

A total of 1,146 residential houses, 330 civil infrastructure facilities, including 19 medical institutions, 44 educational institutions, 53 social facilities, 19 critical infrastructure facilities, 197 electricity, water and gas supply facilities, and 189 vehicles were damaged during the period, it said.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky met with the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia in Kiev on Tuesday, according to a video posted on his Telegram channel.

Earlier in the day, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said that he arrived in Kiev together with his counterparts from Slovenia and the Czech Republic, as well as Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

US officials are discussing the question of sending MiG fighter jets to Ukraine, Senate Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.

"Exactly how to make that happen is still under discussion," McConnell said in a press briefing.

The Republican leader said he did not see anyone in the Senate who would oppose the idea of sending MiGs to Ukraine. These fighter jets are very effective in controlling air space, he added.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that US President Joe Biden vetoed Poland's proposal to send Polish MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine in order to avoid provoking Russia to get directly confronted with NATO.

US partners’ high-level engagements with Russia have not resulted in the diminishment of violence in Ukraine amid the conflict there, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.

"A number of our partners are engaged directly with the Russian Federation at high levels. I think what is clear is that none of these engagements have yet resulted in the diminution of violence, in an end to the war, in a reduction of the loss of life that we have seen across Ukraine," Price said during a press briefing.

He added that the US is "absolutely" prepared to engage with Russia at high levels if it would put an end to the conflict in Ukraine.

Earlier in the day, Fox News said that Zakrzewski was killed in Horenka, outside of Kiev. Zakrzewski was with correspondent Benjamin Hall on Monday newsgathering when their vehicle was struck by incoming fire, the channel said. Hall received injuries.