Tuesday 14 May 2024
BLINKEN TELLS ZELENSKI THAT US AID IS ON ITS WAY DURING SURPRISE UKRAINE VISIT
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tells President Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid is "now on its way" during a surprise visit to Kyiv.
- The top US diplomat tells the Ukrainian president the weapons will "make a real difference" against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield.
- A senior US official says the American-funded weapons now arriving at the front line include air defence interceptors, artillery and ATACMS long-range precision guided missiles
- The visit comes as the country struggles to hold back a major Russian incursion near its second biggest city of Kharkiv
- The cross-border offensive in Kharkiv region is one of the most significant Russian ground attacks since the start of the war
- Earlier UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps tells the BBC he thinks the world "took its eye off the ball" regarding Ukraine's need for arms.
Watch: Blinken pledges arrival of US aid during Zelensky meeting A little earlier, Antony Blinken met President Zelensky in Kyiv as part of his unannounced visit to Ukraine.
The US secretary of state said some help from a recent US aid package has already arrived in the country, and the rest of it was on the way.
The US weapons going to Ukraine are part of a package recently authorised under what's called Presidential Drawdown Authority - which allows delivery as quickly as possible from Department of Defence stocks.
Included are much-needed missiles for air defences, such as advanced surface-to-air missile systems, and shoulder-launched Stingers.
These will help continue to counter the Russian low-level attack threat from cruise missiles, Shahed drones and jets dropping the increasingly problematic precision-guided glide bombs - Russia's equivalent of the US-made JDAM, a guidance kit that converts existing unguided bombs into precision-guided 'smart' munitions.
On the ground, there are more munitions for units using Himars missiles. This high-mobile platform fires guided rockets up to 80km. Alongside this is the tracked version, MLRS, which has the same missile range.
The much talked-about ATACMS long-range missiles are getting to where the Ukrainians need them, giving Kyiv the ability to strike ground targets up to 300km away - deep into Crimea, for example.
Also being delivered are bread-and-butter 155mm shells for M777 Howitzers. Ukraine - at peak use - gets through up to 180,000 of these shells a month, so continuously feeding the Howitzers will be vital for the frontline.
You can read more here about what weaponry has been supplied to Ukraine by various countries.
THIS AND MORE UPDATES AT: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-europe-69007139
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