Amidst Russia’s incursions into Ukrainian territory and its claims to have taken control of three more communities, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has pledged $2 billion in new military aid for Ukraine during his visit to the nation during a critical juncture in the war.
In addition to the $61 billion in US aid that Congress approved last month, Blinken stated that the additional funding would be used to invest in Ukraine’s industrial base during a joint news conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday in Kyiv.
A bilateral security pact could be finalized in a matter of weeks, he declared, as the US and Ukraine had already completed the “heavy lifting.”
According to him, the United States was sending air defenses, missiles, armored vehicles, and ammunition to Ukraine.
His remarks came as Ukrainian forces are being stretched across the long front line, struggling to fend off a renewed Russian offensive. On Wednesday, Russia’s Ministry of Defence said Russian forces had taken control of the settlements of Hlyboke and Lukyantsi in the northeastern Kharkiv region, and Robotyne in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, the latest in a run of incremental gains that have alarmed Kyiv.
Ukraine said that it had pulled back some troops in the Kharkiv region, where Russian troops launched a surprise offensive earlier this month, pounding settlements along the border.
Ukrainian officials have said that more than 30,000 Russian forces have been deployed to the northeastern region. Emergency services have evacuated about 8,000 people, most of them women, elderly people, people with reduced mobility, and people with disabilities and children.
In central Ukraine, at least two people were killed in a Russian air attack on the city of Dnipro, according to the regional governor.
“Putin is ramping up yet another offensive against Ukraine in Kharkiv and across the east, sending wave after wave of Russian soldiers, Iranian drones, North Korean artillery, and tanks, missiles and fighter jets built with machines and parts supplied by China,” Blinken said in a speech on Wednesday at the Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute.
“We are with you today. And we will stay by your side until Ukraine’s security, sovereignty, its ability to choose its own path is guaranteed,” he said.
