In their first official visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion two months ago, the US’s top diplomat and defence secretary offered further military aid, including modern weapons, as well as the return of US envoys to Kyiv.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskiy and other top officials in Kyiv late Sunday after a train voyage from Poland in a display of Western support.
According to US officials, the cabinet secretaries offered $713 million in fresh help to Zelenskiy’s government and other countries in the region who are concerned about Russian aggressiveness.
According to a US official, the meeting between the US team and Ukraine’s leaders lasted three hours, more than double the allocated time.
‘We are impressed by the Orthodox Christians’ resilience in Ukraine in the face of President Putin’s cruel war of aggression,’ Blinken said earlier on Twitter, as violence in the east overshadowed Orthodox Easter liturgical rituals.
According to Zelenskiy assistant Igor Zhovkva, Ukrainian officials drew up a list of armaments urgently needed from the US before Blinken and Austin’s visit, including anti-missile systems, anti-aircraft systems, armoured vehicles, and tanks.
The US and NATO partners have indicated a growing willingness to supply more modern weapons systems and heavier equipment. To free up Warsaw’s Russian-designed T-72s for Ukraine, Britain has agreed to transfer military vehicles and is considering delivering British tanks to Poland.
- The high-level US visit emphasised the shift in the situation since Ukrainian soldiers beat off a Russian attack on Kyiv, bolstered with a significant supply of arms from the West.
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