KYIV, Ukraine, Sept 8, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Secretary of State Antony Blinken on
Thursday made a surprise trip to Kyiv as the United States unveiled nearly
$2.7 billion in new military support to Ukraine and neighbours to face
Russia.
Blinken travelled in secrecy on his second trip to Kyiv since the Russian
invasion in February.
"The secretary very much wanted to come on this trip now because it's such a
consequential moment for Ukraine," a senior US official accompanying Blinken
said.
She pointed to Ukraine's counter-offensive nearly seven months into the
invasion, with President Volodymyr Zelensky announcing Wednesday that Kyiv
had retaken several places in the Kharkiv region.
"All of the security assistance is trying to help ensure that Ukraine is
successful in the counter-offensive," the official said on condition of
anonymity.
"If they are, I do think it is very significant in terms of how the war moves
forward."
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, meeting allies at the Ramstein base in
Germany, earlier Thursday hailed the "demonstrable success" of Ukrainian
forces on the battlefield.
Austin announced another $675 million in military assistance that includes
more arms, ammunition and supplies for Himars, the precision-guided rockets
that can hit targets as far as 80 kilometres (50 miles) away and have been
credited with helping put Russian forces on the defensive.
In addition, Blinken approved $2 billion in foreign military financing, a
programme in which the United States offers loans or grants to other nations
to buy US-produced weapons.
Half of the new $2 billion package will go to Ukraine and the rest to 18
other nations seen as under threat from Russia, another State Department
official said.
The approved recipients include Moldova and Georgia, which both have
breakaway regions backed by Russia, as well as the Baltic states of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania and Bosnia, where tensions have grown with Russian-
backed Bosnian Serb leaders.
Blinken's trip comes after President Joe Biden disappointed Ukraine by making
clear he would not designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism, a step
also backed by many US lawmakers that would make the country toxic for
international businesses and banks.
The Biden administration argues that Russia does not meet the legal
definition and that the United States is already leading sanctions that have
had similar effects.
State Department officials said Blinken also wanted to visit Ukraine to hear
directly from the leadership ahead of this month's UN General Assembly, where
the United States and its Western partners will push for solidarity against
Russia.