A US State Department official announced that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who is making a surprise visit to Kiev today, will announce aid to Ukraine worth one billion dollars. The Foreign Ministry spokesman noted that the new aid package aims to improve air defense and strengthen the armed forces to break through the Russians’ “really strong defense lines,” Rbc-Ukraine reports. This is the first trip by a senior American official to the capital since the start of the Ukrainian counterattack. Blinken visited Kyiv for the first time with Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin in April 2022 after the liberation of the Kyiv region.
The second visit to Kiev took place in September 2022, during the counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region. Reuters news agency reported on its website that Blinken is expected to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, in addition to other senior officials and civil society figures. A US State Department official told Reuters that Blinken will discuss the Ukrainian counterattack as well as the needs of the military and strengthening the energy sector before winter. “I think the most important thing is to get a real assessment from the Ukrainians themselves. We want to see and hear how well they do in the coming weeks,” the official said. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to Kiev is confirmation that the United States wants to continue the war “to the last Ukrainian.” This was stated by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, citing Russian agencies.
Explosions in Kiev and warning in all regions
A series of explosions rocked the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, this morning, according to local media. Anti-aircraft sirens sounded at these hours in all regions of the country. The city’s military administration said in a post on the Telegram app that Kiev was attacked by cruise and ballistic missiles. The same source explained that the Ukrainian air defenses destroyed all enemy targets heading towards the Ukrainian capital, and so far no injuries or major damage have been recorded.
Moscow says that two civilians were killed and ten others were injured in the city of Donetsk after bombing by Ukrainian forces. The pro-Russian mayor, Alexei Kolymzin, said on his Telegram channel last night that “a man was killed in the bombing in the Kuibyshevsky district” and three other people were injured. The acting President of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said earlier that a civilian was killed and seven wounded after a bombing on the regional capital.
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