US State, Defense Secretaries visit Ukraine: Reports
The US is set to provide Kiev with over $700 million in additional military supplies.
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US Defense Secretary (right), Secretary of State (3rd right), and US President (2nd right) in a meeting in Warsaw on March 26.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Kiev on Sunday, AFP reported.
Citing US officials, the news agency added that the visit was the first by high-level US officials to Ukraine during the war.
While in Kiev, Blinken and Austin stated that US diplomats would return to Ukraine "this week" and that the US would provide Kiev with over $700 million in additional military supplies, according to a senior State Department official.
Earlier this month, a Pentagon spokesperson declined to comment on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's remarks about US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's upcoming visit to Ukraine. However, Zelensky stated that he expected Austin and Blinken to arrive in Ukraine to discuss additional arms deliveries to Kiev.
It is worth mentioning that Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Oleg Syromolotov has lately stated as quoted by Sputnik that the US has supplied Kiev with weapons worth $1.65 billion over the last month and a half.
The diplomat went on to say that it is obvious that Kiev, which has no control over the militants' actions, will be unable to ensure the safe storage and non-proliferation of these weapons, which may then end up in the shadow markets of other countries.
Read more: US forces to train Ukrainians on US-provided artillery systems
This adds to the package of billions of dollars of arms and military equipment sent to Kiev since the war began, not to mention the military training provided to Ukrainian soldiers.
The US government has provided Ukraine with $2.3 billion in security assistance since President Joe Biden took office last January, including thousands of anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile systems.
Following the start of the war, the US and its allies have rolled out comprehensive sanctions, including restrictions on the Russian central bank, export control measures, SWIFT cutoff for select banks, and closure of airspace to all Russian flights.
US Embassy in Kiev to reopen in couple of weeks: Blinken
The US Embassy in Kiev will reopen within a couple of weeks, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.
"We will have American diplomats back in Ukraine starting next week, they will then start the process of looking at how we actually reopen the embassy itself in Kiev. I think that will take place over a couple of weeks," Blinken told reporters in Poland following a visit to Ukraine, as broadcast by NBC.
