“We do not encourage or favor attacks outside of Ukraine, but ultimately it is up to Ukraine to make its decisions about how it conducts this war,” Blinken said.
In recent weeks, targets in Russia have been attacked several times with drones and missiles. Russia has warned the West against any attack on its territory with Western weapons.
$2 billion in funding for military aid
Blinken announced in kyiv an additional allocation to help Ukraine acquire weapons from the United States and other countries and increase the production capacity of its own military industry.
These new funds are in addition to the nearly $61 billion in military aid to Ukraine approved by Washington last month, Blinken said at a press conference held in the Ukrainian capital.
“Today I want to add to that (to the aid item approved in April) $2 billion in financing for foreign military aid for Ukraine that we have raised in a fund for the defense industry that is the first of its kind,” he said. Blinken, after meeting with the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, Dmitro Kuleba.
Blinken then explained that this new fund will serve, first of all, to provide Ukraine with more weapons in the short term, through the acquisition of military material from the United States and other countries.
“Critical moment”
The money will also finance investments to expand the production capacity of the Ukrainian military industry for weapons for its own Army and for export.
Blinken highlighted the positive impact that these investments in the military industry will have for entrepreneurship and innovation in Ukraine.
The US Secretary of State began a two-day visit yesterday in kyiv to reaffirm its support for Ukraine after Russia opened a new front last Friday in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
Blinken said the new aid fund comes at a “critical time” for Ukraine due to “renewed brutal aggression from Russia.”
The US Secretary of State also insisted that the White House is “accelerating” the supply of “ammunition, missiles and air defenses” to Ukraine so that kyiv can stabilize the situation on the battlefield as soon as possible.
rml (afp, reuters)
