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US secretary of state Antony Blinken has arrived in Kyiv in a show of support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government amid renewed Russian advances in the north-eastern Kharkiv region.
Blinken is the first senior US official to visit Ukraine since Congress approved a military aid package after a protracted delay. He is due to meet Zelenskyy and senior officials to discuss the war, US aid and Ukraine’s economy.
“I returned to Kyiv today to demonstrate our unwavering support for Ukraine as they defend their freedom against Russian aggression,” Blinken wrote on X on Tuesday.
The secretary of state will use his visit to talk about how US aid will be used to shore up Ukraine’s defences and enable the country “to increasingly take back the initiative on the battlefield”, an anonymous US official travelling with his delegation told Reuters.
The visit follows an advance by Russia north of the city of Kharkiv, where troops opened a new front on Friday and have since advanced to seize control of about 110 sq km of territory.
Ukrainian defence officials and analysts believe Russian troops are trying to pull Ukrainian forces from other areas of the front and stretch their resources while the bulk of the delayed US aid makes its way to Ukraine.
The advance will put Kharkiv city once again within artillery range of Russian forces.
While events in Kharkiv have brought renewed attention to the fighting, the Russians have a higher concentration of troops in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, where they also continue to push forward albeit at a slower rate.
During a White House briefing on Monday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington was trying to get its aid to Ukraine as soon as possible in light of the “hole” created by congressional debate over the package.
