U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Kyiv on Wednesday to show support for Ukraine and its grinding counteroffensive against Russian forces, and said Washington wanted to ensure its ally has a “strong deterrent”.
Blinken arrived hours after the latest Russian air strike on Kyiv, though no damage or casualties were reported in the capital.
During his two-day visit, Blinken is likely to announce a new package of U.S. wartime assistance worth more than $1 billion.
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Blinken, the first top U.S. official to visit Kyiv since the counteroffensive began in early June, began talks with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and was due to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy
Media reports have cited unidentified U.S. officials as saying the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been too slow and hindered by poor tactics – criticism that angered Ukrainian officials and prompted Kuleba to tell critics to “shut up”.
Ukraine has retaken more than a dozen villages and small settlements in its offensive. But its push into Russian-held territory has been slowed by minefields and trenches.
U.S. officials have not publicly criticised Ukraine’s military tactics, and last week said they had seen notable Ukrainian progress in the previous 72 hours of its push in the southeast.
The State Department official said Washington wanted to discuss how the counteroffensive was going and assess battlefield needs as well as any steps that might be required to shore up Ukraine’s energy security before winter.
Asked about Blinken’s visit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow believed Washington planned to continue funding Ukraine’s military “to wage this war to the last Ukrainian”. He said U.S. aid to Kyiv would not affect the course of Russia’s ‘special military operation’.
Editor Oloyede Oworu
