The U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin yesterday at a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv said that the United States would return its embassy to the Ukrainian capital in a week.
The US Embassy will be headed by new Ambassador Bridget Brink. But the main thing for which a couple of high-ranking visitors came was the discussion of the volume and pace of arms supplies to Ukraine. The guests informed Zelensky about a new $713 million US military aid package. Lloyd Austin also said that immediately after Kyiv he would go to Germany, where a NATO meeting on new arms supplies to Kyiv would be held at the American military base Ramstein. All this news seems to have convinced Zelensky to talk less and less about a diplomatic solution to the conflict. The visitors got their way: they pushed Ukraine to a tough position to talk less about peace negotiations and more about the victories of Ukrainian weapons. For this, as overseas visitors explained, the United States took on the role of organizer of an international coalition to provide military assistance to Ukraine.
Zelensky again raised the issue of Joe Biden’s visit to Kyiv at the meeting. The guests answered evasively: Biden himself said in Washington that he was not planning his trip to Kyiv yet. It is extremely important for Zelensky to achieve such a trip in order to show the whole world that the US-led coalition stands firmly on the side of Ukraine in a military conflict with Russia.
Recently, Ukrainian propaganda has been convincing residents that a turning point in favor of Kyiv has been outlined in the war with Russia. And as an argument, he cites the withdrawal of Russian troops from near Kyiv, as well as the shelling of the border territories of Russia. This includes the sinking of the cruiser Moskva. Kyiv is also actively exploiting in favor of its thesis the decision of the United States and its NATO partners to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons – artillery and tanks.
“It seems that the Ukrainian leaders are determined to prolong the military conflict in every possible way and believe that the longer it lasts, the greater will be Kyiv’s chances for military success. Moreover, the day before, Vladimir Zelensky again announced in an ultimatum form that he would refuse to negotiate during a referendum in the southern territories taken under Russian control”, said Oleg Barabanov, an expert at the Valdai Club.
According to him, Kyiv propagandists are convincing the residents of the country that the ongoing resistance of the Azov* militants, blocked at the Azovstal plant, fetters Russian forces and hinders their advance towards Donbass in order to pincer the Ukrainian Armed Forces grouping there. The longer this lasts, the more profitable for the Ukrainian side, although it is clear that the blocked group at Azovstal is doomed.
On the eve of the meeting of visitors from the United States with Zelensky, Joe Biden sent them greetings. He, refraining from forecasts on the duration of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, summed up the results of its first two months. And, in particular, he said that after several weeks of shelling of Kyiv, the city is still standing, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky remains in power. In this sense, the withdrawal of Russian troops from Kyiv gives every reason for the West and Ukrainian propagandists to trumpet the victory of Ukrainian weapons. What Biden did: he emphasized that “many brave Ukrainians joined the Ukrainian Armed Forces” and they prevented Russia from conquering their country. Western diplomatic support continues to grow.
After Blinken and Austin, UN Secretary General António Guterres and Bulgarian Prime Minister Kirill Petkov will arrive in Kyiv this week. The Prime Minister of Bulgaria, in an interview with BTV on Sunday, said that his trip was intended to convince the coalition Bulgarian government to make a decision on providing military assistance to Ukraine. In the meantime, according to media reports, one of the members of the ruling coalition – the Bulgarian Socialist Party – opposed the supply of weapons to Ukraine, and the other – “Democratic Bulgaria”, – on the contrary, declared the refusal of such supplies unacceptable.
In a hurry to Kyiv is also Italian Prime Minister Margot Draghi. His government has come up with a proposal to form a military aid package before his trip to Ukraine, writes the Italian newspapers Repubblica and Corriere della Sera. The package will include one SIDAM 25 self-propelled gun, howitzers and M109 self-propelled guns, which have been in warehouses since the Cold War. In addition, a more modern self-propelled howitzer of 155 mm caliber and a firing range of up to 40 kilometers will also be sent to Ukraine. In general, Italy has collected all the stale military rubbish in order to fit into the chorus of voices in support of sending heavy weapons to Ukraine.
Ivan Nemov, IA Antifascist
*-banned in Russia
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