U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid a visit to Kyiv. He came to Ukraine for the first time after Congress passed a long-awaited $61 billion military aid package for the country
Reuters reports.
The agency notes that the undisclosed trip is intended to demonstrate US solidarity with Ukraine, which continues to repel massive Russian bombardment on its northeastern border, particularly in the Kharkiv Region.
The official arrived in Kyiv by train early on Tuesday morning, hoping, as he said, "send a strong signal of reassurance to the Ukrainians who are obviously in a very difficult moment."
The US Secretary of State emphasised:
"The Secretary's mission here is really to talk about how our supplemental assistance is going to be executed in a fashion to help shore up their defenses (and) enable them to increasingly take back the initiative on the battlefield."
He also noted that the artillery, long-range missiles (also known as ATACMS) and air defence systems approved by US President Joe Biden are already on their way to the Ukrainian military.
Earlier, we reported the first details of the visit of the top US official to Kyiv.