Blinken and Austin promise return of US diplomats and more security assistance on visit to kyiv

SOUTHEAST POLAND, April 25 (Reuters) – Washington’s top diplomat and defense secretary visited kyiv on Sunday, using the first official U.S. visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded two months ago to announce a phased return of diplomats. Americans to the country and the nomination of a new ambassador, officials said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to Poland on Saturday and then overland to Ukraine on Sunday, where they met with President Volodomyr Zelenskiy and other top Ukrainian officials, a senior State Department official said. that he refused to discuss his travel or security arrangements in detail.

The visit was designed to show Western support for Ukraine and cabinet secretaries also pledged $713 million worth of new assistance to the Zelenskiy government and countries in the region, where Russia’s invasion has raised fears of further aggression. by Moscow.

He also highlighted the change in the conflict since Ukrainian forces, armed with a massive influx of weapons from the West, successfully repelled a Russian assault on kyiv.

Russian forces have regrouped to try to capture more territory in the southeastern Donbas region, allowing foreign leaders to visit the capital and some Western nations to resume diplomatic presence in recent weeks, but Washington has been cautious about a return in amid sporadic Russian missile attacks in the west. .

The officials rejected media requests to accompany the secretaries to Ukraine, citing security concerns. Officials briefed journalists in Poland on the condition that the trip not be reported until the delegation was safely out of Ukraine.

Austin will travel to Germany, where he will host his counterparts from more than 20 countries and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the US Ramstein airbase to discuss Ukraine’s defense needs, a Pentagon official said.

Zelenskiy announced the trip himself during a news conference on Saturday, which US officials said was a contingency they had planned for and did not derail the visit.

Blinken and Austin were expected to meet for about 90 minutes with Zelenskiy, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and other officials.

US diplomats departed the kyiv embassy nearly two weeks before the Feb. 24 invasion, moving some duties to the western city of Lviv before finally moving on to Poland.

Diplomats will initially resume “day trips” across the border to Lviv next week and officials are accelerating planning to return to the kyiv mission, the State Department official said.

“There is no substitute for that face-to-face engagement and of course there is a symbolism of being back in the country,” said the official, who briefed reporters in Poland on condition of anonymity.

The official also said that on Monday President Joe Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently the US ambassador to Slovakia, as US ambassador to Ukraine, a post that had been vacant for more than two years.

Blinken and Austin informed Zelenskiy of more than $322 million in new foreign military funding for Ukraine, bringing total US security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion to about $3.7 billion, the official said.

“It will provide support for capabilities that Ukraine needs, especially the fighting in Donbas,” the official said. “This assistance will also help Ukraine’s armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defense systems, essentially NATO-compliant systems.”

Nearly $400 million in new foreign military funding will also go to 15 other nations in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, the official said.

More than 50 Ukrainians were set to complete training on Monday to operate the Howitzer heavy artillery that Washington has begun sending to Ukraine in recent weeks to reflect that fighting is now focused on the flatter, more open Donbas region, he told reporters. journalists in Poland Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. .

Before the visit, Blinken spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to coordinate the UN chief’s visits to Moscow and kyiv, the official said.

Information from Simon Lewis; Edited by Daniel Wallis

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