Blinken and Austin pledge to return US diplomats to Ukraine
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kyiv yesterday, officials said, using the first official US visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion two months ago to announce the gradual return of US diplomats to Ukraine and the appointment of a new ambassador.
A senior US State Department official said that Blinken and Austin traveled to Poland the day before yesterday, and then overland to Ukraine yesterday, where they met President Volodymyr Zelensky and a number of senior Ukrainian officials.
The official declined to elaborate on their travel or security arrangements.
The visit aims to demonstrate Western support for Ukraine and the two ministers also pledged $713 million in new aid to the Ukrainian government and countries in the region where the Russian invasion has raised fears of further aggression from Moscow.
The senior US State Department official said that US President Joe Biden will officially appoint Bridget Brink, the current US ambassador to Slovakia, as Washington's ambassador to Ukraine, a position that has been vacant for more than two years.
The official added that Blinken and Austin informed the Ukrainian president that Washington would provide 322 million dollars to Ukraine in the framework of new foreign military aid, bringing the total security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion to about 3.7 billion dollars.
"(This aid) will provide support for capabilities that Ukraine needs, especially the fighting in Donbass... It will also help the Ukrainian armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defense systems," the official said.
The official noted that nearly $400 million in new foreign military aid will go to 15 other countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
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