US Secretary of State Blinken announced the allocation of $ 2 billion to Ukraine for the purchase of weapons and investments in the Ukrainian defense industry

US Secretary of State Anthony Biginen and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleb. Photo: RBC-Ukraine

The United States will provide Ukraine with an “additional $ 2 billion” for military needs, the Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said this at a press conference, which was given on May 15 in Kyiv together with the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry Dmitry Kuleboy. “We combined these funds in the first -a -kind fund of the defense industry,” Reuters quoted Blinken.

According to the Secretary of State, this fund will provide Ukraine with weapons, invest in its defense industry, as well as finance the purchases of military equipment in third countries. As Blinken specified, $ 1.6 billion from the indicated amount was allocated within the framework of the law for the assistance of Ukraine, which US President Joe Biden signed in April, and another $ 400 million will receive from funds for financing foreign armies. Blinken also said that Biden will meet with the President of Ukraine Vladimir Zelensky in the coming weeks.

One of the journalists asked Blinken whether the White House, who had previously forbade Ukrainians to use American weapons for blows on the territory of Russia. The Secretary of State replied that Washington was “not encouraging” the strike of Russia, but Ukraine itself makes decisions “how it is going to wage this war”. It remained unclear from the answer of Blinken whether he spoke of strikes with the use of American weapons or in general about attacks on the territory of the Russian Federation.

Politico previously wrote that Ukrainian officials are making new attempts to persuade the Biden administration to lift the ban on the use of weapons from the United States to strike targets in Russia. This ban, in particular, does not allow the Ukrainian side to shell the rear of the RF Armed Forces near Kharkov.

Blinken flew to Kiev the day before and met with Zelensky, Prime Minister Denis Shmygal and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleboy. At a meeting with Zelensky, an American official promised that the United States would provide Ukraine with help that would change the situation on the battlefield. As the Ukrainian political analyst Vladimir Fesenko explained to The Insider, the main topics of the discussion were delays in providing military assistance and the need to supply Patriot air defense systems to the Kharkov region.