|
Blinken: US Arms Will Make a Difference05/14 06:00
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday that American military
aid on its way to Ukraine will make a "real difference" on the battlefield, as
the top diplomat made an unannounced visit to reassure an ally facing a fierce
new Russian offensive.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday
that American military aid on its way to Ukraine will make a "real difference"
on the battlefield, as the top diplomat made an unannounced visit to reassure
an ally facing a fierce new Russian offensive.
In increasingly intense attacks along the northeastern border in recent
days, Moscow's troops have captured around 100 to 125 square kilometers (about
40 to 50 square miles) of territory that includes at least seven villages,
according to open source monitoring analysts. Though most of those villages
were already depopulated, thousands of civilians in the area have fled the
fighting.
Analysts have called this moment one of the most dangerous for Ukraine since
Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022 -- and President Volodymyr
Zelenskyy asked Tuesday for more air defense systems to protect civilians under
Russian fire in the northeast.
"We know this is a challenging time," Blinken said in the Ukrainian capital
where he met with Zelenskyy. But he added that American military aid is "going
to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the
battlefield."
The visit comes less than a month after Congress approved a long-delayed
foreign assistance package that sets aside $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, much
of which will go toward replenishing badly depleted artillery and air defense
systems.
Some of that "is now on the way," Blinken said, and some has already arrived
in Ukraine.
Moscow's renewed offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv is the most
significant border incursion since the early days of the war. More than 7,500
civilians have been evacuated from the area, according to authorities.
The Kremlin's forces are now expanding their push to the northern border
regions of Sumy and Chernihiv, Ukrainian officials say, and repeated shelling
and sabotage raids there are further stretching Kyiv's resources.
Zelenskyy thanked Blinken for the aid -- but added that more is necessary,
including two Patriot air defense systems that are urgently needed to protect
Kharkiv.
"The people are under attack: civilians, warriors, everybody. They're under
Russian missiles," he said.
Artillery, air defense interceptors and long-range ballistic missiles have
already been delivered, some of them already to the front lines, said a senior
U.S. official traveling with the secretary on an overnight train from Poland
who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity ahead of Blinken's meetings.
On his fourth trip to Kyiv since Russian troops rolled over the border,
Blinken's goal is to underscore the Biden administration's commitment to
Ukraine's defense and long-term security, U.S. officials said. They noted that
since President Joe Biden signed the aid package late last month, the
administration has already announced $1.4 billion in short-term military
assistance and $6 billion in longer-term support.
In a statement released after Blinken's arrival, the State Department said
he would hold talks with Zelenskyy and other top Ukrainian officials "to
discuss battlefield updates, the impact of new U.S. security and economic
assistance, long-term security and other commitments, and ongoing work to
bolster Ukraine's economic recovery."
Delays in U.S. assistance, particularly since the Israel-Hamas war began and
has preoccupied top administration officials, triggered deep concerns in Kyiv
and Europe. Blinken, for example, has visited the Middle East seven times since
the Gaza conflict began in October. His last trip to Kyiv was in September.
The U.S. official added that Blinken also would give a speech later Tuesday
extolling Ukraine's "strategic successes" in the war. It is intended to
complement a Blinken address last year in Helsinki, Finland, deriding Russian
President Vladimir Putin for Moscow's strategic failures in launching the war.
Since the Helsinki speech, however, Russia has intensified its attacks, most
noticeably as the U.S. House of Representatives sat on the aid package for
months without action, forcing a suspension in the provision of most U.S.
assistance. Those attacks have increased in recent weeks as Russia has sought
to take advantage of Ukrainian shortages in manpower and weapons while the new
assistance is in transit.
Top Biden administration officials and Ukrainian national security officials
held a call Monday "about the situation on the front, about the capabilities
that they are most in need of, and a real triage effort to say, 'Get us this
stuff this fast so that we can be in a position to effectively defend against
the Russian onslaught,'" said national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
The administration is "trying to really accelerate the tempo" of U.S. weapon
shipments, he said.
Zelenskyy said over the weekend that "fierce battles" are taking place near
the border in eastern and northeastern Ukraine as outgunned and outnumbered
Ukrainian soldiers try to push back a significant Russian ground offensive.
The new Russian push in the northeastern Kharkiv region and a drive into the
eastern Donetsk region come after months when the roughly 1,000-kilometer
(620-mile) front line barely budged. In the meantime, both sides have used
long-range strikes in what largely became a war of attrition.
The senior U.S. official said despite some recent setbacks, Ukraine could
still claim significant victories. Those include reclaiming some 50% of the
territory Russian forces took in the early months of the war, boosting its
economic standing and improving transportation and trade links, not least
through military successes in the Black Sea.
The official acknowledged that Ukraine faces "a tough fight" and is "under
tremendous pressure" but argued that Ukrainians "will become increasingly more
confident" as the new U.S. and other Western assistance begins to arrive.
No other Daily email offers as much useful Ag information as DTN Snapshot – Sign up Free today!
|
|