ASKING BIG GUNS FOR MORE GUNS
New US aid after Zel meets Biden aides in Kyiv
The United States announced new military aid to Ukraine following a secretive meeting in Kyiv between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and top US diplomats on Sunday.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told Zelensky that the US would provide over $300 million in military financing and approved a $165 million sale of non-US made ammunition that will be compatible with Ukraine’s Soviet era weapons.
They also announced President Joe Biden is expected to nominate Bridget Brink as Ukrainian ambassador and American diplomats will return to Ukraine this week after evacuating the country before the war erupted.
The latest aid to Ukraine brings the total amount of American military assistance to the besieged country to $3.7 billion since the war began, officials said.
Last week, Zelensky claimed his country would have already won the war against Russia if the US and NATO had sent more weapons. Zelensky has said he wants the US to also provide Ukraine with jets and missiles.
As for when Biden might visit the war-ravaged country, the president told reporters last week that he hasn’t decided — despite several world leaders including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently making the trip.
The day’s developments came as:
▪ Igor Zhovkva, a top diplomatic adviser to Zelensky, said the Kremlin’s declaration that it had seized complete control over Mariupol was “false,” though he conceded the city is nearly “wiped out” and that “so many Ukrainian soldiers are wounded.” But “Ukrainian forces are still in town,’’ mainly around the Azovstal steel plant, the official said — where Ukraine suggested holding talks with Russia to allow for the appropriate escape of its soldiers.
▪ Enduring Ukrainians celebrated one of their culture’s most important holidays, Orthodox Easter, even as the government warned that Russia might target mass gatherings. Photos showed ceremonies in destroyed and bombed churches, while other people gathered next to ruins to celebrate. “We will not be destroyed by any horde or wickedness,” Zelensky said in his Easter address to the nation.
▪ The Ukrainian military said that an estimated 21,800 Russian soldiers have been killed in the two months of war and that Ukraine has destroyed 179 Russian aircraft, 154 helicopters, 873 tanks, 2,238 APVs, 1,557 vehicles, 404 artillery systems, eight ships and 69 anti-aircraft warfare systems.
▪ Zelensky congratulated French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron on his re-election, referring to the leader as his “great friend.”
Before Blinken and Lloyd met with Zelensky, Deputy National Security Adviser Jon Finer said Sunday that US officials have “seen significant evidence of atrocities” in Mariupol, where Russians are still “deliberately targeting civilians.”
But despite the dire situation there and elsewhere in the Eastern European country, Russia has “already lost” the war, Finer said.
“In our view, Russia has already
lost . . . many of its initial war aims,’’ he said. “They have intended to divide the West. They have resulted in a West and a NATO alliance that is much more united than it’s ever been.
“They thought that they would unsettle and undermine and maybe even overthrow the Ukrainian government. President Zelensky is firmly entrenched in power, and Ukrainian democracy continues,’’ he said.
“Russia is more isolated in the world. Its economy is weaker,” Finer continued. “They are failing at virtually every one of their initial objectives. And our objective is going to be to continue that trend.”