The US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, is currently in Kiev for a surprise visit, according to the national newspaper "Ukrainskaja Pravda". The US government announced that the senior official will announce further humanitarian and military aid to Ukraine worth one billion dollars. The goal is to improve Kiev's air defense and strengthen the armed forces to break through Russian defense lines.

This is the first trip to the capital by a senior US official since the start of the Ukrainian counteroffensive. Blinken visited Kiev for the first time in April 2022, after the region was liberated from Russian military forces, and a second time in September last year, during the Ukrainian advance in the Kharkiv region. The US Secretary of State is expected to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The visit is part of an international diplomatic action that US officials are carrying out to reach a ceasefire between Moscow and Kiev as soon as possible. Among these initiatives by Washington is also the exhortation, addressed to North Korea, to cease any negotiations for the supply of armaments to Russia.