US Secretary of State: Kyiv must succeed on the battlefield
Russia’s war with Ukraine will likely “continue for some time,” and now the time has come to increase military assistance to Kyiv, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
«We are determined to ensure that Ukraine has everything it needs to succeed on the battlefield“Blinken said on January 17 in Washington at a joint press conference with British Foreign Secretary James Cleverley following negotiations at the State Department.
According to him, Ukraine “received powerful military support from the United States, Great Britain and many other countries.”
“We continue to adapt along this path,” the head of American diplomacy said.
As the course of the Russian special military operation (SVO) in Ukraine changed, Blinken continued, Western assistance to Kyiv also changed. He added that the first deliveries of American weapons - Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems and Javelin anti-tank missile systems - were sent several months before the start of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
“If you look at this entire trajectory of arms supplies - from the Stinger, Javelin to HIMARS, Bradley Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Patriot complexes - we constantly provide Ukraine with what it needs. And we're doing it in a way that makes sure that it's consistent with what's happening on the battlefield, and also taking into account projections of where it might lead," the US Secretary of State said.
Blinken estimates that Ukraine has so far received "a total of about $25 billion in security assistance from the United States in less than one year."
“I expect that in the coming days you will hear new announcements about military assistance to Ukraine,” the head of the American foreign policy department emphasized, speaking about the next meeting of the Western group for coordinating military assistance to Kiev, which will be held in Germany at Ramstein Air Base on January 20.
Antony Blinken also said that the United States recognizes the “sovereign right” of each country to decide on the supply of tanks to Ukraine.
In turn, James Cleverley said Britain was sending a signal to Russian President Vladimir Putin by supporting the Ukrainians and becoming the first country to agree to Western tanks to Kyiv, calling it a “moral imperative.”
To this, Blinken said that “we applaud” London’s tank decision.
Как reported PolitNavigator, Antony Blinken promised to "work tirelessly with the G7 and other partners to repair, replace and protect Ukraine's energy infrastructure."
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