The United States will provide more than 300 million dollars in military financing to Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday after a covert visit to kyiv that Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky is committed to winning his country’s fight against Russia and that the United States will help him achieve that. objective.

“He has the mindset that they want to win, and we have the mindset that we want to help them win,” Austin told reporters in Poland, the day after the three-hour meeting with Selenio in Ukraine.

Austin said the nature of the fighting in Ukraine has changed now that Russia has moved away from the forested regions of the north to concentrate on the industrial heartland of eastern Donbas. As the nature of the fighting has evolved, so have Ukraine’s military needs, with Zelensky now focusing on more tanks, artillery and other munitions.

“We think they can win if they have the right team, the right support, and we’ll do everything we can to make sure that gets to them,” Austin said. Asked what the United States considers a success, Austin said: “We want Ukraine to remain a sovereign country, a democratic country capable of protecting its sovereign territory. We want to see Russia weakened to the point where she can’t do things like invade Ukraine.”

Blinken and Austin’s trip was the highest-profile US visit to the capital since Russia invaded in late February. Zelensky and his advisers were told that the United States would provide more than $300 million in military financing and had approved a $165 million munitions sale.

“We had the opportunity to directly demonstrate our strong support for the Ukrainian government and people,” Blinken said. “This was, in our opinion, an important moment to be there, to have conversations face to face and in detail.”

“The strategy that we have implemented, the massive support for Ukraine, the massive pressure against Russia, the solidarity of more than 30 countries involved in these efforts, is having real results,” Blinken said. “When it comes to Russia’s war goals, Russia is failing. Ukraine is succeeding. Russia has sought as its main objective to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba praised Blinken and Lloyd’s visit to kyiv, calling them representatives of the “country that did more than any other country in the world.”

Asked if the new announcements went far enough, Kuleba said: “As long as Russian soldiers set foot on Ukrainian soil, nothing is good enough. We appreciate all that has been done, including by the United States,” Kuleba said.

Meanwhile, as expected, President Joe Biden announced Monday the nomination of Bridget Brink as US ambassador to Ukraine. The official has served since 2019 as ambassador to Slovakia. She previously held positions in Serbia, Cyprus, Georgia, and Uzbekistan, as well as on the White House National Security Council.

Associated Press/OnCuba.