Blinken and Austin in Kyiv announced new US military assistance to Ukraine

The United States has announced new military assistance to Ukraine during a closed-door secret visit to Kyiv on Sunday by the US Secretary of State and Pentagon chief.

Western agencies reported this, citing sources, including the Associated Press, the EP reports.

During a US visit to the capital at the highest level since russia's invasion in late February, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced $713 million in foreign military funding for Ukraine and 15 allies and partners. About $322 million is provided for Kyiv.

The rest will be shared between NATO members and other countries that have provided Ukraine with important military supplies since the start of the war with russia, officials said.

Such funding differs from previous US military assistance to Ukraine. This is not a donation from the US Department of Defense, but cash that countries can use to buy supplies they may need.

According to officials, the new money, along with the sale of $165 million in non-US and non-US-compatible weapons, increases total US military aid to Ukraine to $3.7 billion since the invasion.

While in Kyiv, Blinken and Austin met with Zelenskyy, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi at an extended, approximately 90-minute bilateral meeting, a senior State Department official said.

The visit was closed and took place without press coverage for security reasons.