Plea comes as US secretary of state makes first visit to Ukraine since new aid package was passed by Congress
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, arrived in Kyiv on Tuesday morning on his first visit to Ukraine since a major US aid package was passed last month, as Ukrainian forces struggle to defend against increasingly intense Russian attacks.
Blinken, who arrived by train from Poland in an unannounced visit, met Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, shortly after arriving.
“We know this is a challenging time. But we also know that in the near term the assistance is now on the way, some of it has already arrived and more of it will be arriving,” Blinken said. “And that’s going to make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield.”
Zelenskiy described the US aid as crucial, and thanked Blinken, but also said Ukraine desperately needed two more air defence systems to protect the second city of Kharkiv, which has been hit repeatedly by Russian strikes in recent weeks.
Addressing Blinken in English, Zelenskiy said air defence supplies were “the biggest deficit for us”, with Russia conducting long-range aerial attacks since March that have pounded electricity facilities and caused blackouts.
