US’s Blinken arrives in Kyiv in ‘strong signal of reassurance’ for Ukraine
Al Jazeera
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Kyiv after travelling overnight by train from Poland.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Kyiv in a surprise diplomatic visit designed to underline the United States’s support for Ukraine as it battles to push back Russian troops who have opened a new front line in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
The trip is the first by a senior US official since Congress passed a long-delayed $61bn military aid package for the country last month, and amid concerns that the US government has been preoccupied with Israel’s war on Gaza.
Blinken, who arrived in Kyiv by train early on Tuesday morning, hoped to “send a strong signal of reassurance to the Ukrainians who are obviously in a very difficult moment”, said a US official who briefed reporters travelling with Blinken on condition of anonymity.
Blinken will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other senior Ukrainian officials “to discuss battlefield updates, the impact of new US security and economic assistance, long-term security and other commitments, and ongoing work to bolster Ukraine’s economic recovery,” the State Department said in a statement.
It is his fourth visit to Kyiv since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022. He was last in the country in September last year.
