Blinken told Zelensky US diplomats to return to Ukraine ‘this week’

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin travelled to Kyiv Sunday, the first visit by high-level American representatives to Ukraine since Russia invaded, US officials said.

The trip, which the United States confirmed only after the two had left Ukrainian territory, came as many in the country celebrated Orthodox Easter.

Blinken and Austin expressed solidarity with President Volodymyr Zelensky and announced the gradual return of US diplomats to Ukraine.

They also pledged more than $700 million in additional direct and indirect military aid, including some $300 million to allow the country to purchase necessary weapons.

Money will also go to Ukraine’s regional allies who need to resupply after sending weapons to their neighbour.

Blinken said US President Joe Biden in the coming days planned to nominate current US ambassador to Slovakia Bridget Brink as the new ambassador to Kyiv, a post that has been officially empty since 2019.

Though several European countries have already reopened their embassies in Kyiv, the return will be gradual for American diplomats, according to a State Department official.

“Since the start of hostilities, we’ve had a team across the border in Poland who’s been handling this work for us,” the official told reporters waiting for Blinken and Austin on the Polish side of the border.

“Starting this week, members of that team will be able to do day trips instead into Ukraine,” he said. “Ultimately, (they will) resume presence in Kyiv.”

The Ukrainian presidency had already confirmed the visit earlier in the day, with presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovych saying in an interview on a Russian former lawyer’s popular YouTube channel that the US envoys “wouldn’t come here, if they weren’t ready to give (weapons).”

And Zelensky also tweeted Sunday that the “Ukraine-US friendship and partnership are stronger than ever”.

Biden had already announced Thursday a new $800 million aid package to bolster Ukraine in their fight against Russian troops in the country’s east. In total, the United States has sent some $4 billion in military aid since Biden’s term began last year.

Austin and Blinken’s trip came after several foreign officials had already visited, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.