US announces new military assistance for Ukraine
The United States has announced new military assistance for Ukraine and renewed diplomatic push as President Joe Biden's secretary of state and Pentagon chief has completed a secrecy-shrouded trip to Kyiv.
On Sunday local time, top envoy Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his advisers that the US would provide more than US 300 million $417 million in foreign military financing and approve a US 165 million sale of ammunition.
Since Russia invaded in late February, the trip is the highest-level US visit to the capital.
The US envoys said that Biden would announce his nominee to be ambassador to Ukraine and that American diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning to the country this coming week.
The US Embassy in Kyiv will be closed for the moment.
On Saturday, the Biden administration refused to confirm that and wouldn't discuss details of a possible visit, even though planning had been underway for more than a week, and he had announced that he would meet with US officials in Kyiv on Sunday.
Journalists who traveled with Mr Austin and Mr Blinken to Poland were prevented from reporting on the trip until it was over, were not allowed to accompany them on their overland journey into Ukraine and were not allowed to specify where in south-east Poland they waited for the cabinet members to return.
Security concerns were raised by officials at the Pentagon and the State Department.
According to Austin and Mr Blinken, a total of US 713 million dollars are being allocated for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries. Some US 322 million is earmarked for Kyiv.
Since the war with Russia began, the remainder will be divided among NATO members and other nations that have provided Ukraine with critical military supplies.
Such funding is different from US military assistance for Ukraine.
It is not a donation of stockpiled US Defence Department stockpiles, but rather cash that countries can use to purchase supplies that they might need.
The total amount of American military assistance to Ukraine has reached 3.7 billion since the invasion, along with the sale of US 165 million in non-US ammunition that is compatible with Soviet-era weapons the Ukrainians use.
Zelenskyy had urged the Americans not to come empty-handed.
US officials said they believed that the new assistance would satisfy the Ukrainians' urgent pleas for more help.
The military of Ukraine, which is trained on its use in neighbouring countries, is receiving new artillery, including howitzers, at a rapid pace, the officials said.
More to come.