Five Things to Know, Oct. 2, 2023

1.   President Joe Biden said Sunday that American aid to Ukraine will keep flowing for now as he sought to reassure allies of continued U.S. financial support for the war effort. But time is running out, the president said in a warning to Congress. “We cannot under any circumstances allow America’s support for Ukraine to be interrupted,” Biden said in remarks from the Roosevelt Room after Congress averted a government shutdown by passing a short-term funding package late Saturday that dropped assistance for Ukraine in the battle against Russia.

2.   Some of Europe’s top diplomats gathered Monday in Kyiv in a display of support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion as signs emerge of political strain in Europe and the United States about the 19-month-old war. European Union foreign ministers converged on the Ukrainian capital for an unannounced informal meeting that officials said would review the bloc’s support for Ukraine and discuss Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposed peace formula.

3.   Jimmy Carter has always been a man of discipline and habit. But the former president broke routine Sunday, putting off his practice of quietly watching church services online to instead celebrate his 99th birthday with his wife, Rosalynn, and their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren in Plains.

4.   The Navy announced Friday that it will begin regularly testing all Navy SEALs and the elite force’s recruits for performance-enhancing drugs, signaling a major public shift for a community that was hit hard by investigations and criticism in the wake of a death in 2022. Rear Adm. Keith Davids, the commander of Naval Special Warfare Command, told the entire special warfare community that it will now face random, forcewide urinalysis for the drugs, or PEDs, beginning in November.

5.   A new Marine rotational force has deployed to the Philippines to begin a series of back-to-back exercises in the region, the service announced. Marine Rotational Force — Southeast Asia is participating in the multinational naval exercise Sama Sama — Tagalog for “together” — according to the release. The 12-day exercise kicked off Monday near the island of Luzon with troops from the U.S., the Philippines and seven other nations.