(VitalNews.org) – Anthoney Blinken, the United States Secretary of State, arrived in Kyiv following the release of a major U.S. aid package that was sent to Ukraine. Blinken showed up unannounced and met with Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian President.
“We know this is a challenging time. But we also know that in the near term assistance is now on the way, some of it has already arrived and more of it will be arriving. And that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield,” Blinken said.
Zelenskiy recognized that the United States support was essential to their victory and thanked Blinken for the aid, but he continued to speak on air defense. He asked for two more air defense systems to protect the second city of Kharkiv.
Blinken continued to say that air defense systems are the “biggest deficit for us” and Russia has been sending out long-range aerial attacks. “Really we need today two Patriots for Kharkiv, for Kharkiv region because there the people are under attack. Civilians, warriors, everybody they are under Russian missiles,” he said.
The visit comes at a very hard time for Ukraine as they are dealing with a Russian invasion while struggling to mobilize recruits, and they are having difficulty keeping up with the Russian offense.
The Gaza war has pulled a lot of attention off of Ukraine and there is even more growing concern with the United States heading into an election that could deter the attention away from Ukraine as well.
Joe Biden just signed a sixty-billion-dollar aid package for Ukraine after months of going back and forth. However, the delay in aid has put Ukraine behind in terms of defending itself and the effect is noticeable.
According to the State Department, Blinken will meet with Ukrainian officials to talk about “battlefield updates, the impact of new US security and economic assistance, long-term security and other commitments, and ongoing work to bolster Ukraine’s economic recovery.”
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