US air defence to Ukraine: Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is in Kyiv on Tuesday, claimed that a new U.S. weaponry package will affect the Ukrainian battlefield. Ukrainian forces have been experiencing difficulties at the front due to a protracted delay in U.S. assistance.
Washington finally approved a measure to provide military assistance to Ukraine in late April after months of delay due to opposition from some Republicans in the U.S. Congress, while Russian forces launched an offensive using their more powerful weapons.
I returned to Kyiv today to demonstrate our unwavering support for Ukraine as they defend their freedom against Russian aggression. pic.twitter.com/7ruIw6GgVd
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 14, 2024
“…In the near term the assistance is now on the way, some of it has already arrived and more of it will be arriving,” said Blinken, during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. “And that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield.”
According to Reuters, Zelenskiy hailed Washington for its bipartisan support and praised “crucial” U.S. assistance. He told Blinken Kyiv that Ukraine’s greatest current deficiency in this area is the need for two Patriot air defense batteries in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, which is under constant Russian airstrikes.
Zelenskiy declared, “Civilians, warriors, everybody — they are under Russian missiles,”
The Ukrainian president said he also wants to talk about security assurances with the United States and asked Blinken to mobilize more nations for an impending high-level peace conference in Switzerland in June.
In the first year after Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine drove Russian forces off the edges of Kiev and reclaimed large tracts of captured territory.
But a counteroffensive started in 2023 failed, and Moscow has been making little but consistent progress at the front in recent months. Kiev claims it is hoping that fresh Western weapon pledges will enable it to take back the initiative on the war and retake part of the fifth of its land that is still under Russian occupation.
“We’re equally determined that over time, Ukraine stands strongly on its own feet: militarily, economically, democratically,” said Blinken. “A strong, successful, thriving, free Ukraine is the best possible rebuke to Putin.”
