Update(1539ET): Maui? East Palestine? No, Blinken is in the capital of Ukraine where he just announced $1 billion more in US aid to the the country.
"The U.S. commitment includes more military assistance, but also funds to bolster its future defense and its own democracy and economy," the NY Times noted following the Secretary of State's remarks to the press.
This includes, interestingly enough, some half-billion dollars for "cleaner, more resilient" energy infrastructure, and over a couple hundred million more for civilian and city infrastructure, including for clean water, food, medical support, and home generators. And then there's this detail: seized funds from Russian oligarchs will be included as part of this round of aid...
US: FUNDS TO UKRAINE INCLUDE $5.4M IN FORFEITED OLIGARCH ASSETS
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made a surprise visit to Ukraine on Wednesday at a moment of waning Western faith in the ability of the counteroffensive to make any breakthroughs. It marks the highest level visit by an American official since last February President Biden visited Kyiv for the first time.
Like with prior trips, Blinken came bearing gifts, announcing over $1 billion in new US aid - while Moscow has charged that Washington will fund Kyiv until the "last Ukrainian". But Blinken's message is: "We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive, but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent," he told reporters.
The trip and announcement seems to confirm that the Zelensky government's latest bold moves related to anti-corruption "house cleaning" was done at the behest of Washington and NATO, likely for the sake of PR and to keep US taxpayer dollars flowing into Kiev's coffers.
To review of the immediate context, only in the past days and week...
- Ukraine's government cracked down on corrupt army recruiters
- Zelensky sacked his defense minister amid a long-running corruption probe related to overpriced contracts for military items
- Zelensky in an interview said a presidential election during wartime is impossible, but hinted there could be a path forward if the West funds it
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