Mon 25 April 2022:
The US has announced new military aid for Ukraine and promised that its diplomats will return to Lviv in the coming week, as its top diplomat and defence chief completed a secretive trip to the Ukrainian capital.
Blinken and Austin told Zelenskyy and his advisers that the US would provide more than $300m in foreign military financing and had approved a $165m sale of ammunition.
They also said US President Joe Biden would soon announce his nominee to be ambassador to Ukraine and that US diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning to the country this coming week.
The US embassy in Kyiv will remain closed for the moment.
Russian ‘failing’ in its Ukraine war aims: Blinken
The US’s top diplomat says Russia is failing in its war aims in Ukraine.
“We’re seeing that when it comes to Russia’s war aims, Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding. Russia has sought as its principal aim to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed,” Blinken told reporters in Poland, following a meeting with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.
“It sought to assert the power of its military and its economy. We, of course, are seeing just the opposite. The military that is dramatically under-performing, an economy as a result of sanctions, as a result of a mass exodus from Russia, that is in shambles. And it sought to divide the West and NATO. Of course, we’re seeing exactly the opposite.”
Ukraine can win with ‘right equipment’: Austin
The US’s defence chief says Ukrainians can win against Russia with the right equipment and support.
“The first step in winning is believing that you can win. And so they believe that we can win,” Austin said in a news briefing on the Polish-Ukraine border.
“We believe that they can win. They can win if they have the right equipment, the right support. And we’re going to do everything we can, continue to do everything we had to ensure that they get it.”
Russia tells US to stop giving Ukraine weapons
Moscow sent a note to Washington demanding it stops supplying weapons to Kyiv, Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, said in an interview with the Russia-24 TV channel, state news agency TASS reports.
“$800 million, for this [amount of] weapons will be supplied to Kyiv from Washington. This is a huge figure, it does not contribute to finding a diplomatic solution, resolving the situation,” Antonov said.
“Did we pass a note – yes, we emphasised the unacceptability of the situation when the United States are stuffing Ukraine with weapons, we demanded an end to this practice,” he said.
Antonov added that the US was “trying to raise the stakes even more and aggravate the situation”.
US military aid taking Ukraine’s defence to ‘new level’: Zelenskyy
The $3.4 billion in military assistance from the US is “already” helping bring Ukraine’s defence capabilities to a qualitatively new level”, Zelenskyy has said, according to a statement from his office issued after Blinken and Austin’s visit to Kyiv.
“We appreciate the unprecedented assistance of the United States to Ukraine. I would like to thank President Biden personally and on behalf of the entire Ukrainian people for his leadership in supporting Ukraine, for his personal clear position. To thank all the American people, as well as the Congress for their bicameral and bipartisan support. We see it. We feel it,” Ukraine’s president said.
The statement noted the president’s discussions with the US delegation included “current priorities for the belligerent state” strengthening sanctions on Russia, financial support for Ukraine and security guarantees.
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