US
diplomats will begin returning to Ukraine this week, the US State Department
has said, after secretary of state Antony Blinken and secretary of defense
Lloyd Austin returned from a secretive visit to Ukraine to meet president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The top
US envoys also promised more $300m in foreign military financing and have
approved a $165 million sale of ammunition, according to Associated Press.
The
news agency reported:
They
also said Biden would soon announce his nominee to be ambassador to Ukraine and
that American diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning
to the country this coming week. The US embassy in Kyiv will remain closed for
the moment.
Zelenskiy
had announced Saturday that he would meet with the US officials in Kyiv on
Sunday, but the Biden administration refused to confirm that and declined to
discuss details of a possible visit even though planning had been underway for
more than a week.
Journalists
who traveled with Austin and Blinken to Poland were barred from reporting on
the trip until it was over, were not allowed to accompany them on their
overland journey into Ukraine, and were prohibited from specifying where in
southeast Poland they waited for the cabinet members to return. Officials at
the State Department and the Pentagon cited security concerns.
Austin
and Blinken announced a total of $713 million in foreign military financing for
Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries; some $322 million is earmarked for
Kyiv. The remainder will be split among NATO members and other nations that
have provided Ukraine with critical military supplies since the war with Russia
began, officials said.
Such
financing is different from previous US military assistance for Ukraine. It is
not a donation of drawn-down US Defense Department stockpiles, but rather cash
that countries can use to purchase supplies that they might need.
The
new money, along with the sale of $165 million in non-US made ammunition that
is compatible with Soviet-era weapons the Ukrainians use, brings the total
amount of American military assistance to Ukraine to $3.7 billion since the
invasion, officials said.
Zelenskiy
had urged the Americans not to come empty-handed. US officials said they
believed the new assistance would satisfy at least some of the Ukrainians’
urgent pleas for more help. New artillery, including howitzers, continues to be
delivered at a rapid pace to Ukraine’s military, which is being trained on its
use in neighboring countries, the officials said.
On
the diplomatic front, Blinken told Zelenskiy that Biden will announce his
nomination of veteran diplomat Bridget Brink to be the next US ambassador to
Ukraine.
A
career foreign service officer, Brink has served since 2019 as ambassador to
Slovakia. She previously held assignments in Serbia, Cyprus, Georgia and
Uzbekistan as well as with the White House National Security Council. The post
requirements confirmation by the US Senate.
Blinken
also told Ukraine’s foreign minister that the small staff from the
now-shuttered US embassy in Kyiv, which has relocated to Poland from temporary
offices in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, would begin making day trips to
Lviv in the coming days.
