Russia-Ukraine updates: Putin suspends key US-Russia nuclear treaty in speech denouncing West

The U.S. announced a new $400 million aid package for Ukraine that will help Kyiv procure tanks.

The aid money will go toward refurbishing 45 Soviet-era T-72 tanks belonging to the Czech Republic's defense industry, according to Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh.

The Netherlands has also committed to paying for another 45 tanks to be refurbished for Ukraine.

The first of a total of 90 tanks is set to arrive before the end of the year, according to Singh.

"Since 2014, the US has committed more than $21 billion in security assistance and more than $18.2 billion since the beginning of Russia's unprovoked brutal invasion on Feb. 24," Singh said.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler

Western officials are "confident" Russia's military is "setting the conditions" for withdrawal from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only regional capital that has been occupied by Russian forces since the February.

The Russian military is preparing to make a "strategic" withdrawal and move its forces east across the Dnipro river, officials said.

"It looks like an orderly, well-planned and deliberate military process is taking place," a Western official told ABC News.

The officials would not put a timeframe on when the withdrawal would happen and added that it is not guaranteed to take place. They downplayed, however, any speculation that the Russians are using the withdrawal to mask a more "nefarious" action in that area.

The officials said their assessment was that the Russians believe Kherson "is not worth fighting for."

The advance of Ukrainian forces in Kherson has slowed over the past three weeks.

In mid-October, the newly appointed commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, General Surovikin, said “difficult decisions” may be necessary in Kherson.

Senior Ukrainian officials have suggested more recently that Russian forces are preparing to fight for Kherson and a source on the ground told ABC News that the Russian military is still moving in and out of the city.

-ABC News' Tom Burridge

North Korea was secreting sending ammunition to Russia to use in its invasion of Ukraine and is disguising the shipments as appearing to be destined to the Middle East or North Africa, the White House said Wednesday.

"Our information indicates that [North Korea] is covertly supplying Russia's war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they're being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa," White House spokesman John Kirby said.

Kirby said North Korea was sending "a significant number of artillery shells." He did not specify an exact number but said it was more than "dozens."

"But we don't believe that they are in such a quantity that they would tangibly change the direction of this war or tangibly change the momentum either in the east or in the south" of Ukraine, he said.

Kirby added, "We're gonna continue to monitor whether these shipments are received."

In September, the U.S. had said Russia is looking to purchase millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea, saying at the time that this indicated the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine.

-ABC News' Ben Gittleson

The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a warning to nations with nuclear capabilities, calling on them to abandon attempts to infringe on each other's vital interests, warning that direct armed conflict and provocations with weapons of mass destruction can lead to catastrophic consequences.

Russia claimed it believes there can be no winners of nuclear war and said it refarrims its commitment to the prevention of nuclear warm.

"A reaction with the use of nuclear weapons is hypothetically allowed by Russia only in response to aggression using weapons of mass destruction or aggression using conventional weapons, when the existence of the state is threatened," the ministry said in a statement.

The White House has said it will not confirm or deny New York Times reporting that senior Russian military officials had recently discussed when and how Russia might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine. The intelligence about the conversations was reportedly circulated inside the U.S. government in mid-October.

But, Russian President Vladimir Putin was not a part of these alleged conversations, according to the New York Times.

The White House on Wednesday said it still sees "no indications that Russia is making preparations" to use nuclear weapons.

-ABC News' Natalia Shumskaia and Ben Gittleson