The United States is providing Ukraine with $2 billion in military support so the country can obtain weapons “today,” Blinken told a news conference in Kiev on Wednesday. This is part of a $61 billion aid package approved in the United States several weeks ago.
The money will go toward weapons and investments in Ukrainian infrastructure, as well as ensuring Ukraine's ability to purchase military equipment from other countries.
Blinken made the announcement during a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday afternoon. He said here that Ukraine's choice is whether it wants to attack Russia.
He added: “We did not encourage or facilitate attacks outside Ukraine, but ultimately Ukraine must make its own decisions about how to manage this war.”
video: You've never seen Antony Blinken like this before
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Blinken also promised more air defences, including Patriot systems, as Kuleba had urgently requested.
In recent months, Ukraine has been on the defensive due to a shortage of weapons, ammunition and soldiers. In recent days, Russia has captured a number of villages near the large city of Kharkiv in the northeast of the country. Earlier this week, the Ukrainian army announced that it had withdrawn its forces from the front in several places in the region. On Tuesday, a residential building was subjected to a Russian missile attack in the city of Kharkiv, which has a population of one million people.
Blinken, who arrived in Kiev on Tuesday, says President Joe Biden may meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the coming weeks. At the press conference, he also expressed his strong support for the peace conference planned to be held in Ukraine in Switzerland in June.
On Tuesday evening, Blinken performed with Ukrainian rock musicians at a bar in Kiev, where he sang and played guitar on the song “Rockin' in the Free World.” The offer received a mixed reception in Ukraine, with some writing on social media that it was “tone deaf” in a situation where millions of people have to live with the brutal consequences of war.
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