President Joe Biden announced on Wednesday nearly $3 billion in aid to Ukraine as the country marks its Independence Day and six months of war, holding a muted ceremony Wednesday in the capital, Kyiv.

World leaders have offered their support to Kyiv as Biden praised the Ukrainian response and called the day “bittersweet” for many.

“The United States of America is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine as they continue the fight to defend their sovereignty. As part of that commitment, I am proud to announce our biggest tranche of security assistance to date: approximately $2.98 billion of weapons and equipment to be provided through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative,” Biden said in a statement.

The money will allow Ukraine to acquire air defense systems, artillery systems and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial systems and radars, the statement said.

Moscow invaded its neighbor on Feb. 24, in an act that shocked the world and rattled the global economy. Since then, Russian forces have laid waste to Ukrainian towns, occupied swaths of land and seized control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, in Zaporizhzhia. Ukrainian forces, relying on Western weapons and equipment, pushed Russian troops out of Kyiv early in the war. Now they are battling for control of the eastern Donbas region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky placed flowers at a war memorial in the city and took part in a multifaith service at a church, alongside his wife. He also warned that Russia could step up its attacks, even as he hailed the courage of Ukrainians in the face of Russian aggression. “It doesn’t matter to us what kind of army you have. What matters to us is our land. We will fight for it until the end,” he said.

Biden noted that Ukraine’s Independence Day is bittersweet as thousands have been killed or wounded and millions displaced. “But six months of relentless attacks have only strengthened Ukrainians’ pride in themselves, in their country, and in their thirty-one years of independence,” Biden said.

(c) 2022, The Washington Post · Adela Suliman, Jennifer Hassan, Robyn Dixon