U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin quietly traveled to Kyiv, Ukraine, on Sunday to meet with Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelenskyy.
The meeting, which was intended to remain under wraps until completion, faced an early hiccup when Zelenskyy himself leaked the upcoming trip. Blinken and Austin were already half-way to Poland when Zelenskyy, at a news conference on Saturday, said the duo would soon be arriving in Ukraine, The New York Times reported.
Still, the U.S. opted to continue on, making Blinken and Austin the highest-level U.S. officials to visit Ukraine since Russia began its invasion in February.
The trip was intended to be a show of solidarity from the U.S. to Ukraine and followed visits from multiple high-level Western leaders. During the visit, Blinken promised the return of U.S. diplomats sometime within the week, a senior State Department official said, according to CNN.
The trip also produced tangible results for Ukraine, as Blinken and Austin told Zelenskyy and advisors that the U.S. would provide new, additional aid in its fight against Russia.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speak with reporters after returning from their trip to Kyiv and meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, near the Ukraine border, in Poland, April 25, 2022. Alex Brandon/Pool via REUTERS
The latest aid includes over $300 million in foreign military financing, according to The Associated Press. Blinken and Austin also said a $165 million sale for ammunition was approved by the administration, according to The AP.
“He [Zelenskyy] has the mindset that they want to win, and we have the mindset that we want to help them win,” Austin said Monday during a press conference in Poland.
Blinken, also speaking back in Poland on Monday, reiterated that the trip was “an opportunity to demonstrate directly our strong ongoing support for the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people.”
“This was, in our judgment, an important moment to be there, to have face-to-face conversations in detail,” he added, according to The AP.
Austin also appeared to reveal a new objective from the U.S., telling reporters that the goal is to see Russia “weakened.” (RELATED: Biden Declares Putin ‘Cannot Remain In Power,’ White House Quickly Walks It Back)
“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” Austin declared, according to Newsweek. “So it has already lost a lot of military capability. And a lot of its troops, quite frankly. And we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability.”