Blinken announces new USD 2 billion military aid for Kyiv

The Biden administration will send further military aid worth USD 2 billion to Ukraine amid its ongoing conflict with Russia US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday local time as he concluded his twoday visit to Kyiv intended to underline Washingtons support the Washington Post reported Blinken said the USD 2 billion for Ukraine would come in the form of a firstofitskind defense enterprise fund that would channel assistance to the country in the coming monthsThe aid in the form of new weapons systems and support for Ukraines defense industry comes partially from a USD 61 billion package that the US Congress approved last month while USD 400 million comes from a separate pool of money earmarked for general foreign defence aid which is now being directed to UkraineHowever Blinken also stressed that the Biden administration remains opposed to Ukraine striking targets inside Russian territory with US weaponry something Ukrainian policymakers have been pushing for with increasing urgency The visit coincided with Russian military advances that highlighted Ukraines defenses in an extremely vulnerable lightRussia in recent days has mounted an assault on towns near Kharkiv Ukraines secondlargest city Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday cancelled a planned trip to Spain as concern mounted about the latest Russian assaults We have not encouraged or enabled strikes outside of Ukraine Blinken told reporters Wednesday at the end of his first visit to Ukraine since SeptemberBut ultimately Ukraine has to make decisions for itself about how its going to conduct this war a war it is conducting in defense of its freedom of its sovereignty of its territorial integrity Blinken said And we will continue to back Ukraine with the equipment it needs to succeedNotably Ukraine is able to use weaponry supplied by other countries including the United Kingdom to hit targets on Russian soil the White House has forbidden American equipment from being used to hit Russian territory for fear of inciting a direct military conflict with Russia the Washington Post reported This has proved frustrating for Ukraine especially in recent weeks as it witnessed a military buildup on Russian territory close to Kharkiv but found its ability to strike it very limited the report addedUkrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba appreciated the US help but also acknowledged the difficulties faced by Kyiv due to more than six months of congressional inaction that preceded Aprils approval of the aid Every delay of supply results in setbacks on the front line This is the general rule Kuleba said When a Ukrainian infantryman or artilleryman has everything that he or she needs we are winning Every time there are delays in supplies and insufficient supplies we are not winning The law of war is cruel but very clearThe report cited analysts and US officials in stating that Russian forces do not appear poised to capture Kharkiv city but that they are probably trying to cause enough of a challenge there to draw Ukrainian military assets away from other frontline positions farther south The Institute for the Study of War a Washingtonbased independent research group said Russias attack on the northeast Kharkiv region appeared to have slowed indicating that it was probably an effort to create a buffer zone on the border not an effort to capture the city It added that Russia continued to make small but steady gains farther south Washington Post reportedThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever