Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterates support for Ukraine in Kyiv visit

KYIV – The top diplomats of the U.S. and UK said Wednesday they’re firmly committed to Ukraine’s victory and will adapt support to the country’s needs in a war that’s already lasted 30 months.

“The bottom line is this: We want Ukraine to win,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a joint visit to the Ukrainian capital Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

“From day one, we have adjusted and adapted,” Blinken told reporters after meeting with top Ukrainian officials, including Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and newly appointed foreign minister Andrii Sybiha. “Needs have changed as the battlefield has changed, and I have no doubt that we will continue to do this.”

He was referencing Ukraine’s push to use long-range missiles supplied by the U.S. on military targets inside Russia. Missiles like ATACMs, which the U.S. sent to Ukraine last year, can travel 190 miles. Ukrainian troops want to strike weapon stockpiles, logistical centers and airfields to stop Russian forces from advancing on the battlefield and attacking Ukrainian cities nearly every day. One Russian strike last week on a military academy in central Ukraine killed at least 58 people and injured nearly 300.

The U.S. has resisted lifting restrictions, saying such strikes would aggravate Russia, which has a vast arsenal and nuclear weapons. 

The tone shifted, however, during the visit by Blinken and Lammy, who noted that Russia is now aggravating matters by acquiring ballistic missiles from Iran to use on Ukraine.

“If anyone is taking escalatory action, it would appear to be (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and Russia,” Blinken said.

Lammy added that he and Blinken had “detailed conversations with President Zelenskyy” on the use of long-range weapons supplied by the UK and U.S.

“I am not prepared to give Putin the advantage,” Lammy said. 

President Biden meets with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Friday. Zelenskyy says he plans to meet with Biden later this month. In the past, the Ukrainian president and his team have managed to successfully lobby the White House for more and better weapons after initial resistance by Washington. 

Earlier on Wednesday, reporters asked Zelenskyy about prospects for another policy change.

“Am I optimistic about their decision to allow us to use long-range weapons? I wish it didn’t depend on my optimism,” he said. “It depends on their optimism.” 

Zelenskyy said he plans to discuss the issue with President Biden later this month. His administration is working quickly to secure as much support as possible before the presidential election. At Tuesday night’s U.S. presidential debate, which Zelenskyy said he didn’t watch, Vice President Kamala Harris threw her support behind Ukraine but former president Donald Trump refused to answer when asked if he wanted Ukraine to win. “I want the war to stop,” he said, without elaborating on how he would make that happen.

Blinken and Lammy both announced new aid packages for Ukraine Wednesday. The U.S. will give Ukraine $700 million in humanitarian and energy assistance, while the UK will allocate nearly $800 million in financial support and military equipment supplies. 

The aid, and today’s visit, come at a crucial time during the war. Ukraine continues to lose territory to Russia in the east even after Ukraine’s surprise invasion of the Russian region of Kursk last month. Zelenskyy wants to reclaim all Ukrainian land, including the peninsula of Crimea, which Russia occupied and illegally annexed in 2014.

“Crimea is not just a territory, it is part of our soul,” Zelenskyy said on Wednesday at the unveiling of a monument to the nearly 200,000 Crimean Tatars who died after the Soviets forced them out of their homes in 1944.

At Kyiv’s Institute for International Relations, students aiming to become Ukraine’s future diplomats debate how their country can manage in the shifting sands of modern geopolitics. Some worry about pro-Russian countries banding together, others about the outcome of the U.S. election. Vladyslav Payuk, 19, says he wants Ukraine’s allies to understand how Ukrainians feel when Russia bombs their cities.

“Why can’t we bomb (Russian) strategic facilities,” he says, speaking about the restriction on long-range weapons. “Why can’t we shoot them back? Every day in every city of Ukraine, families are killed.”

Volodymyr Ohryzko, a geopolitical analyst and former Ukrainian foreign minister, says Ukraine’s western allies believe Russia can be reasoned with.

“This is a mistake,” he told NPR. “They believe in fairy tales they invented themselves.”

He also cast doubt that Russia would participate in a Ukraine-initiated peace summit because he says the Kremlin’s goals for this war are clear: “Russia insists that we capitulate, and Ukraine does not accept capitulation.”

And he added that the U.S. has not yet resolved how to manage Russia in the long-term, and that this won’t happen until after the U.S. presidential election.