Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
THE UNITED STATES’ top diplomat and defence chief were in Ukraine’s capital yesterday making the first high-level visit by US officials since Russia invaded two months ago as hundreds remain trapped in the besieged city of Mariupol.
The trip by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin comes as the war enters its third month, with thousands dead and millions displaced.
Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met the US officials yesterday, as Mariupol’s defences were “already on the brink of collapse” and Ukraine was in dire need of offensive weapons.
“As long as there are no ‘offensives’, there will be a new Bucha every day,” he said in an interview on a Russian former lawyer’s popular YouTube channel, referring to the town where UN officials said they had documented the unlawful killings of around 50 civilians.
“Maybe they can help,” Arestovych added of the US envoys. “They wouldn’t come here, if they weren’t ready to give [weapons].”
United States diplomats will begin a gradual return to Ukraine this week, Washington’s secretary of state and defence chief said Monday, as they announced $700 million in military aid during their first war-time visit to Kyiv.
Washington ordered the withdrawal of its diplomats in the weeks prior to Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, but has been a leading donor of financial aid and weaponry to the country, and a key sponsor of sanctions targeting Moscow.
“Since the start of hostilities, we’ve had a team across the border in Poland who’s been handling this work for us,” an 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 visiting envoys also pledged another $700 million (€653 million) in military aid to Ukraine, including some $300 million (€280 million) to allow the country to purchase necessary weapons.
Zelenskyy tweeted later Sunday that the “Ukraine-US friendship and partnership are stronger than ever”.
The United States has been a leading donor of finance and weaponry to Ukraine and a key sponsor of sanctions targeting Russia, but had not yet sent any top officials to Kyiv, while several European leaders had travelled there to underscore their support.
‘Fierce hatred’
The highly sensitive trip by two of US President Joe Biden’s top cabinet members coincided with Easter celebrations in the largely Orthodox country.
As Ukrainians marked a sombre Easter, with many braving bombardment for blessings, Russian forces showed no sign of easing their attacks.
Five civilians were killed and another five wounded in Donetsk yesterday, the besieged eastern region’s Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. Authorities also reported a death in northeastern Kharkiv.
The day before, a missile strike on the southern city of Odessa left eight dead and at least 18 wounded, according to Zelenskyy, who said five missiles hit the historic city.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had targeted a major depot stocking foreign weapons near Odessa.
Zelenskyy accused Russia of being a terrorist state, one that has devastated the port city of Mariupol with weeks of unrelenting bombardment.
With thousands of its fighters and civilians in Mariupol facing increasingly dire conditions, Kyiv said yesterday it had invited Moscow to talks near the sprawling Azovstal steel plant, where Ukrainian soldiers are still holding out.
“We invited Russians to hold a special round of talks on the spot, right next to the walls of Azovstal,” the last Ukrainian stronghold in the strategic port, said Arestovych.
There was no immediate response from Russia. Its president, Vladimir Putin, had ordered his forces not to assault the plant, but the Ukrainians say the attacks continue unabated.
‘Pause to save lives’
On Sunday, the United Nations’ Ukraine crisis coordinator Amin Awad called for an “immediate stop” to fighting in Mariupol to allow trapped civilians to leave.
“The lives of tens of thousands, including women, children and older people, are at stake in Mariupol,” Awad said in a statement.
“We need a pause in fighting right now to save lives.”
The call came a day after the latest attempt to evacuate civilians from Mariupol failed.
In a message posted on social media, Sviatoslav Palamar – deputy commander of the far-right Azov Regiment, which is sheltering in a warren of tunnels under the steel plant — said Russian forces continued to rain down fire on Azovstal.
“The enemy continues air strikes, artillery from the sea… enemy tanks continue to strike and infantry is trying to storm,” said Palamar.
Ukrainian commander Sergey Volyna described the situation in the complex as “very difficult” and reiterated calls for the international community to help those remaining escape.
“We will not have time to wait for a military solution to the situation, the situation is very critical. Very heated. I don’t know how much time we have,” he said in an interview.
Mariupol, which the Kremlin claims to have “liberated”, is pivotal to Russia’s war plans to forge a land bridge to Russian-occupied Crimea – and possibly beyond, as far as Moldova.
The latest fighting followed an announcement earlier this week from a senior Russian military officer, who said Moscow aimed to take full control over the eastern Donbas region and southern Ukraine.
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said it was “extremely concerned” after a number of its Ukrainian members were believed to have been arrested in pro-Russian separatist territories in the country’s east.
More than five million Ukrainians have fled the country, and millions of others have been displaced internally, officials say.
Easter Sunday
Even as fighting raged on, Ukrainians took time to observe a solemn Orthodox Easter yesterday.
Under the rain at a frontline position in the eastern town of Lyman, soldiers traded the usual patriotic salutation of “Glory to Ukraine!” for a cry of “Christ has risen!”
“Truly risen!” came the reply.
Around 50 civilians gathered in the town’s small Orthodox church. Artillery fire could be heard as they prayed.
Elsewhere on the front line, in the eastern city of Severodonetsk, Ukrainian troops had hidden their small stock of supplies, including Easter treats, under a bridge after Russian mortar rounds struck overnight.
Next to the Kalashnikovs were Coke bottles and cereal bars, as well as icing-covered Easter breads sprinkled with colourful sugar beads.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
They’ve probably put Zelenskyy back in his box. No talking with Putin! That wouldn’t be good for the US weapons manufacturers’ balance sheets.
@bread of heaven: Lockheed Martin is the largest weapons manufacturer in the US. It is not a top 50 company in terms of revenue. To claim that US policy is being driven by this industry is silly. Zelensky has repeatedly suggested a meeting with Putin. Putin is not interested in talking.
@bread of heaven: nevertheless the weapons are just what Ukraine needs. Are you suggesting the the US should not supply?
War is profitable for the American Military Industrial Complex! So keep the war going, never mind the collateral damage!
@Bernard Kavanagh: yeah and never mind trying to defend against putin. Just roll over Ukraine and let putin do his thing.
@Paul Furey: The conflict in Ukraine did not begin on February 24, 2022 with the start of Putin’s so-called “special military operation,” but in 2014 with the Maidan coup against the country’s then democratically-elected government in Kiev. https://t.co/nn00CMKnrX
@Paul Furey: https://www.cato.org/commentary/ignored-warnings-how-nato-expansion-led-current-ukraine-tragedy Don’t hide from the facts.
Poor Ukraine stuck in the middle between 2 superpowers fighting. Neither of which care about its people. They should have declared themselves a neutral country and none of this would have happened.
@Munster1: and that would work for Russia wouldn’t it?
2 superpowers fighting each other you say?
Russia is not a superpower and never will be.
they are struggling to contain a so called inferior army.
if tbd United States and Russia came to blows in a conventional war there is only one winner and it’s not Russia.
Russia is a weak country with poor training, poor morale and bad leadership.
It’s not even a fair comparison actually.
The United States and it’s NATO allies will be Occupying Moscow soon enough with Putin and his cronies been put up against a wall and you know the rest.
Your a actually a embarrassment and I’m been very light on what I actually think of you
@Munster1: Moldova are neutral. Won’t stop Putin invading there. Latvia, Estonia and Lithuanian were all neutral and Stalin invaded them. Russia don’t care about neutrality.
@alan scott: Russia isn’t a superpower? The largest country in the world with the worlds largest number of nuclear weapons. The rest of your comment is just gibberish I wont reply to.
@Munster1: Russia is not a superpower and never has been.
they are a nuclear power
Russia is not the Soviet Union and doesn’t have the same military standing as it did.
Only for their nuclear weapons this war in Ukraine would be over if NATO got involved.
They would be crushed like a pea, Putin knows this and the whole reason why he put his nukes on alert given that MAD (mutually assured destruction)is still around
@alan scott: you are right.
Economically they are smaller than Italy. Outside the top 10. And are shrinking
Yes the have 6,000 nukes – many old.
Their annual military budget is 60bn – same as France, the U.K., Saudi and Germany.
But behind India and massively behind China and the US. The US spends 800bn – over 12 times more.
There are two superpowers China and the US. Russia will become a subsidiary of China. China own them now.
Putin must be so disappointed with his military.
@Munster1: land mass means nothing – Greenland is big too
@Munster1: the Ukrainians offered neutrality – the Russians want more. Appeasement with a dictator – chamberlain tried that.
@Munster1: potato patato
@John Comerford: they little over 3 000 on accordance with the new start treaty
Ukraine should surrender to save lives… Giving military aid isn’t the answer
@Paul O Meara: ya just let russians ra pe and loot all round em. Good man yourself
@Paul O Meara: can’t believe people think the Ukrainians should surrender. They are fighting for their country against an evil dictator. Should Churchill have surrendered too??
@Paul O Meara: again someone who knows f all what they are talking about.
@Paul O Meara: go home & count the sheep Paul
@Paul O Meara: oh dear! Well at least and in the unlikely event, of our country ever being invaded – we know not to depend on you to protect your home.
@alan scott: wasting ur time people seem to love taking the high moral ground …the last refuge of a scoundrel
@Paul Furey: here we go again with that shixt talk
@Paul O Meara: so if the British decided to come back and take over all of ireland should we surrender to them? Not fight? Not ask other countries for help?
That’s it lads give the Ukrainians more weapons for more war,more innocent people getting killed,thousands more homes destroyed,more infrastructure destroyed,more innocent refugees fleeing.
Get the decision makers from Moscow & the Ukrainian around a table and sort this nonsense out and create peace not more war.
People supplying more weapons to create more war turn my stomach
@O’Brien Michael: if the russians stayed in their own country there wouldn’t be a problem
@O’Brien Michael: so you want the Ukrainians to surrender? Just hand over their country to Putin.
@Joseph Devine: u could say the same about the good ol u s of a…. Osama bin laden ony had 1 demand…that amerca pull it’s forces back inside its own border.
Now talk about the other $14+ billion.
Team America world police .knock it down with our weapons build it back up withe our contractors…perfect scam ….did the same in in every country they invaded .or proxy war
I don’t understand why the vast majority of people can not see that this is woeful warmongering. The US REGIME are fully responsible for starting this conflict in Ukraine and now they are fueling the fire they set.
I really do hope that the US REGIME’S Oligarchs who have been orchestrating this aggression against Russia since well before 2014 , get the punishment they truly deserve. We can only achieve World Peace once manners has been put on that evil US REGIME.
@alan scott: economically they are smaller than Italy. Not a top 10 country
In terms of military spending they are on par with the U.K., Saudi, Germany and France at around 60bn. The are behind India and m
have your say