Zelenskyy hails ‘unprecedented assistance’ as top US officials vow more aid in Kyiv visit

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) – Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised Washington for its “unprecedented assistance” as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged more aid during their trip to Kyiv on Sunday evening.

“We appreciate the unprecedented assistance of the United States to Ukraine. I would like to thank President (Joe) Biden personally and on behalf of the entire Ukrainian people for his leadership in supporting Ukraine, for his personal clear position,” Zelenskyy told the American officials, according to a statement issued by his office.

“To thank all the American people, as well as the Congress for their bicameral and bipartisan support. We see it. We feel it,” he added.

Issues discussed in the talks included defense assistance and financial support for Ukraine, security guarantees and ways to enhance sanctions against Russia, the statement said.

Blinken and Austin told Zelenskyy that Washington plans to provide “$713 million in additional foreign military financing to help Ukraine,” according to a CNN report that cited a senior US State Department official.

It was also conveyed that US diplomats who left before the war will return to Ukraine this week, starting with “day trips” to Lviv before gradually moving to other parts of Ukraine and will “ultimately … resume presence in Kyiv,” the report said.

Biden will also be nominating Bridget Brink as Washington’s ambassador to Ukraine, it added.

Zelenskyy said the $3.4 billion already provided by the US as defense support has been the “largest contribution to strengthening Ukraine's defense capabilities” and helped raise “Ukraine’s defense capabilities to a qualitatively new level.”

The need to further strengthen sanctions on Russia was a particular point of focus, according to the statement from Zelenskyy’s office.

“We understand what the next steps on this track should be. And we count on the support of our partners,” the Ukrainian leader said.

On financial support for Ukraine, he emphasized the “importance of expanding the opportunities for Ukrainian goods to access the American market,” read the statement.

“The parties also discussed the peace process and prospects for strengthening the anti-war coalition … Zelenskyy stressed that Ukraine sees the United States as a leader among the future guarantors of our country’s security,” it added.

- ‘Russia is failing’

At a press conference in Poland after the Kyiv visit, Blinken asserted that Russia’s bid to “subjugate Ukraine … has failed.”

“When it comes to Russia’s war aims, Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding,” he said.

“Russia has sought as its principal aim to totally subjugate Ukraine, to take away its sovereignty, to take away its independence. That has failed.”

He said Moscow has badly faltered in its attempt “to assert the power of its military and its economy.”

“We, of course, are seeing just the opposite, a military that is dramatically underperforming, an economy as a result of sanctions, as a result of a mass exodus from Russia, that is in shambles,” said Blinken.

“We don’t know how the rest of this war will unfold, but we do know that a sovereign independent Ukraine will be around a lot longer than (Russian President) Vladimir Putin is on the scene.”