On Kyiv visit, Blinken, Austin pledge return of US diplomats, more security aid

SOUTHEASTERN POLAND (REUTERS, AFP) – Washington’s top diplomat and defence secretary both visited Kyiv on Sunday (April 24), and used the first official US visit to Ukraine since Russia invaded two months ago to announce a gradual return of American diplomats to the country and the nomination of a new ambassador, officials said.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin travelled to Poland on Saturday and took a train the following day into Ukraine, where they met President Volodomyr Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials.

“In terms of Russia’s war aims, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded,” Blinken told a briefing in Poland after the two officials returned from the meeting.  

The visit was designed to show Western support for Ukraine and the cabinet secretaries also pledged new aid worth US$713 million (S$977 million) for Zelensky’s government and countries in the region, where Russia’s invasion has raised fears of further aggression by Moscow.  

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

“Our focus in the meeting was to talk about those things that would enable us to win the current fight and also build for tomorrow,” Austin told the briefing, calling the meeting in Kyiv “very productive”.

He said the US wants Russia “weakened” so it cannot invade again and Ukraine can win the war if it has the right equipment.  

“We believe that we can win, they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” Austin said, adding Russia “has already lost a lot of military capability. And a lot of its troops quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability,” he said.

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

“We certainly saw people on the streets of Kyiv, evidence of the fact that the battle for Kyiv was won,” Blinken told the briefing, providing glimpses of the train journey from Poland.

“But that’s in stark contrast to what’s going on in other parts of Ukraine, in the south and the east, where the Russian brutality is just horrific.”

However, the delegation travelled directly to Kyiv by train and did not have much opportunity to speak to Ukrainians beyond the meeting with officials, he added.

Earlier, US officials had declined media requests to accompany the two officials into Ukraine, citing security concerns.

They briefed reporters in Poland on condition the trip not be reported until the delegation was safely out of Ukraine.  

Austin will now travel on to Germany, where he will host counterparts from more than 20 nations and Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the US air base at Ramstein to discuss Ukraine’s defence needs, a Pentagon official said.  

The meeting Blinken and Austin held with Zelensky, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov and other officials lasted nearly three hours, overrunning an allotted time of 90 minutes.

US diplomats departed the Kyiv embassy nearly two weeks before the Feb 24 invasion, moving some functions to the western city of Lviv before eventually relocating to Poland.

Diplomats will initially resume “day trips” across the border to Lviv in the coming week and officials are accelerating plans to return to Kyiv, the State Department official said.

“There’s no substitute for that face-to-face engagement, and of course there is a symbolism to 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 Ms Bridget Brink, currently US ambassador to Slovakia, as ambassador to Ukraine, a post that had remained vacant for more than two years.

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

“It will provide support for capabilities Ukraine needs, especially the fight in the Donbas,” the official said.

It would also help Ukraine’s armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defence systems, essentially Nato-capable systems, he added.  

Nearly US$400 million in new foreign military financing will 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 Howitzer heavy artillery that Washington has begun sending to Ukraine in recent weeks as fighting now focuses on the flatter, more open Donbas region, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Poland.  

US military aid was arriving in Ukraine with “unimaginable speed”, Austin told Monday’s briefing, adding that after Biden’s Thursday approval of a new tranche of weapons. “On Saturday, Howitzers were showing up from that drawdown package.”

Ahead of the visit, Blinken spoke with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Friday to coordinate on the latter’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv, the official said.
 

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

“It will provide support for capabilities Ukraine needs, especially the fight in the Donbas,” the official said.

“This assistance will also help Ukraine’s armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defense systems, essentially Nato capable systems.”Nearly US $400 million in new foreign military financing 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 Howitzer heavy artillery that Washington has begun sending to Ukraine in recent weeks to reflect that fighting is now focused in the flatter, more open Donbas region, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Poland.

Ahead of the visit, Mr Blinken spoke with United Nations (UN) Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Friday to coordinate on the UN chief’s visits to Moscow and Kyiv, the official said.The highly sensitive trip by two of President Joe Biden's top cabinet members coincided with Easter celebrations in the largely Orthodox country.

"Our souls are filled with fierce hatred for the invaders and all that they have done," Mr Zelensky said in a statement marking the holiday. "Don't let rage destroy us from within."

As Ukrainians marked a sombre Easter, with many braving bombardment for blessings, Russian forces showed no sign of easing their attacks.

Five civilians were killed and another five wounded in Donetsk on Sunday, the eastern region's Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

The day before, a missile strike on the southern city of Odessa left eight dead.

"Among those killed was a three-month-old baby girl," Mr Zelensky said.

How did she threaten Russia? It seems that killing children is just a new national idea of the Russian Federation."

He accused Russia of being a terrorist state, one that has devastated the port city of Mariupol with weeks of unrelenting bombardment.

Yet, with thousands of Ukrainian fighters and civilians in Mariupol facing increasingly dire conditions, Kyiv invited Moscow to talks near the sprawling Azovstal steel plant where Ukrainian fighters are still holding out, Ukraine said on Sunday.

"We invited Russians to hold a special round of talks on the spot, right next to the walls of Azovstal," the last Ukrainian stronghold in the strategic port, said presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych.

There was no immediate response from Russia. Its president, Mr Vladimir Putin, had ordered his forces not to assault the plant, but Ukrainians say the attacks continue unabated.