Moscow — The Biden administration announced an additional $200 million in military aid for Ukraine on Wednesday, bolstering U.S. support for the country amid fears of a potential Russian invasion.
“We are committed to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and will continue to provide Ukraine the support it needs,” a U.S. State Department official told reporters traveling with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as he headed to Ukraine’s capital city.
Blinken was in Kyiv on Wednesday to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The visit came as Washington and its European allies stepped up their warnings to Russia that any assault on Ukraine would bring “massive consequences.”
“Aggressive action,” or a “peaceful path”
Russia has already massed more than 100,000 troops along its border with Ukraine. In Kyiv, Blinken said he hoped Russia would continue diplomacy and remain on a “peaceful path,” but he said Moscow appeared poised for “aggressive action.”
“We know that there are plans in place to increase that [Russian] force even more on very short notice, and that gives President Putin the capacity, also on very short notice, to take further aggressive action against Ukraine,” he told diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine’s capital on Wednesday. “I strongly, strongly hope that we can keep this on a diplomatic and peaceful path, but ultimately, that’s going to be President Putin’s decision.”
Blinken is scheduled to meet his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in Geneva on Friday.
President Zelenskyy extended his thanks to America on Wednesday for its backing.
“I would like to thank you personally,” he told Blinken, “and President Biden and the U.S. administration, for your support, for military assistance to Ukraine, for increasing this assistance.”
