“The first step to victory is believing in it,” said US Secretary of Defense Austin, who visited Kyiv with Secretary of State Blinken. They promise new financial aid. Meanwhile, Russia warns the United States against further arms deliveries.
According to US estimates, Ukraine can Krieg win against Russia. “They can win if they have the right equipment and the right support,” Secretary of Defense Lloyd said Austin on Monday. Pentagon chief and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had announced a gradual return of US diplomats to Ukraine and further military aid during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday. Meanwhile, Russia warned the United States against arms deliveries to Kyiv.
“We have stressed that it is unacceptable for the United States to supply arms to Ukraine. We have demanded an end to this practice,” said Russian ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov in an interview with Rossiya 24 TV channel an official diplomatic memo was sent to Washington expressing Russia’s concerns. Such arms shipments aggravated the situation and aggravated the conflict.
“Russia already failed”
“The first step to winning is believing that you can win,” Austin said. Ukraine is convinced of that. Russia, on the other hand, must be further weakened. through the Krieg the country has already “lost a lot of military capabilities” and lost many soldiers, the minister added. “We want Russia to be weakened to the point where it’s no longer capable of something like invading Ukraine.” And blinking said, “What the war aims As far as Russia is concerned, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded”.
Austin and Blinken met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Kyiv on Sunday evening. The two US ministers pledged additional military aid of 700 million dollars (650 million euros). About $300 million of that will be used to buy arms for the Ukrainian armed forces. The rest is to go to Ukraine’s regional allies, who have been providing aid to the country and need to replenish their weapon stocks.
Return of US diplomats to Ukraine
In addition, US diplomats are to gradually return to Ukraine, as a senior official at the US State Department said on Monday night. The diplomats had been brought to safety from Ukraine in the face of the Russian invasion and had been working from there.
Blinken stated that US President Joe Biden intends to appoint the current US ambassador to Slovakia, Bridget Brink, as the new ambassador to Kyiv in the coming days. The US ambassador post in Kyiv has been officially vacant since 2019.
Thanks for $3.4 billion in weapons aid so far
Zelenskij thanked the Americans for their arms support and at the same time called for stricter sanctions against Russia. “We have discussed with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arms assistance, tightening sanctions policy against Russia, financial assistance to Ukraine and security guarantees,” Zelensky said on Monday on his official Telegram channel. Zelenskiy said that the $3.4 billion in weapons aid so far has helped Ukraine a lot in its national defense.
At the same time, it is important to limit the Russian attack potential through stricter sanctions. Zelenskiy referred to an action plan that had already been drawn up by Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, and Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador in Moscow. In addition, Zelensky emphasized how important it is for the Ukrainian economy that its goods have better access to the US market.
For security reasons, Washington’s visit by the two US ministers was only confirmed after Austin and Blinken had left Ukrainian sovereign territory. However, the Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich had previously confirmed the presence of the government representatives in an interview on the video platform YouTube. During their stay in Kyiv, Blinken and Austin met Zelensky, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky for a roughly 90-minute talk, CNN reported.
(APA/AFP/Archyde.com/dpa)