{"id":2023244,"date":"2023-09-06T10:28:09","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T14:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-makes-surprise-visit-to-ukraine\/"},"modified":"2023-09-06T10:30:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T14:30:38","slug":"blinken-makes-surprise-visit-to-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-makes-surprise-visit-to-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"Blinken&#8217;s Unexpected Trip to Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">10<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fblinken-makes-surprise-visit-to-ukraine%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2023244&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<h2>Secretary of State Antony Blinken&#8217;s Surprise Visit to Ukraine<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Secretary of State \u200cAntony Blinken \u2063made \u2062a surprise visit to Ukraine on Wednesday to offer \u2062Kyiv support for its counteroffensive against Russia, but the trip\u2064 was quickly \u200bovershadowed by \u2062a reported Russian attack on a\u200b city in eastern Ukraine that killed at least 16 people.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>President Volodymyr\u200d Zelensky condemned the attack,\u2064 which hit a market, shops, and a pharmacy in the city of Kostiantynivka, close to \u200bthe battlefield. He said a child was among\u2062 the 16 or more dead, and many people were wounded.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8220;This Russian evil must be defeated as soon as possible,&#8221; Zelensky said.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Blinken is expected to announce a new package of U.S. wartime assistance worth more than $1 billion during \u2062his two-day \u2062visit, a senior\u200b State Department official said.<\/p>\n<p>The first \u200dtop \u2062U.S. official to \u200bvisit Kyiv since\u200d the \u2064counteroffensive began in early June, Biden \u200chad talks with Foreign \u200bMinister Dmytro Kuleba \u200dand was due to meet Zelensky.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;We want \u200bto make sure that Ukraine has \u2064what it needs, \u200bnot only to succeed in the counteroffensive, but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent,&#8221; Blinken said standing\u200b alongside Kuleba.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. media reports have cited unidentified U.S.\u2064 officials as saying the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been too slow and \u200chindered by poor tactics\u2014criticism that\u2062 angered Ukrainian officials and prompted \u200cKuleba to \u200ctell critics to &#8220;shut up.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Ukraine has retaken more than a dozen villages and small settlements in its offensive. But its push into Russian-held territory \u200chas been slowed by minefields and\u200b trenches.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. officials have \u2064not publicly criticized Ukraine&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/no-supporting-a-strong-foreign-policy-does-not-mean-youre-racist\/\" title=\"No, Supporting a Strong Foreign Policy Does Not Mean You\u2019re Racist\">military tactics<\/a>,\u200c and last week said they had seen progress in the \u2062southeast.<\/p>\n<p>The State Department official said Washington wanted to\u2063 discuss how \u200dthe counteroffensive was going and assess battlefield needs as well as any \u200csteps that might be required to shore up Ukraine&#8217;s energy security before winter.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think what&#8217;s most important is that we get a real assessment from the Ukrainians themselves,&#8221; the official said. &#8220;We want to\u200d see,\u2063 hear how they intend to push forward in\u200d the coming weeks.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Asked about Blinken&#8217;s \u200cvisit, \u2064Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said\u2064 Moscow believed Washington planned to continue funding Ukraine&#8217;s military &#8220;to wage this war to the last Ukrainian.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said U.S. aid to Kyiv would \u2062not affect the course of what he called Russia&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/uae-blames-houthi-drones-for-abu-dhabi-tanker-explosions\/\" title=\"UAE Blames Houthi Drones for Abu Dhabi Tanker Explosions\">special military operation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Rising Opposition to\u200c Ukraine Aid<\/h3>\n<p>Blinken&#8217;s visit coincided with parliament approving the appointment of Rustem Umerov as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/israel-threatens-to-return-lebanon-to-stone-age-after-hezbollah-attack\/\" title=\"Israel warns of devastating response after Hezbollah attack in Lebanon.\">defense \u200dminister<\/a> following \u2064the dismissal of\u2063 Oleksii Reznikov. Officials did not say whether Blinken would \u200dmeet Umerov.<\/p>\n<p>During his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dem-va-gov-candidate-spotted-maskless-on-train-in-violation-of-guidelines\/\" title=\"Dem VA Gov Candidate Spotted Maskless On Train In Violation Of Guidelines\">train ride<\/a> to Kyiv, Blinken also held talks with Danish prime \u200bminister Mette Frederiksen, who was visiting the same \u2063day.<\/p>\n<p>Blinken thanked Frederiksen for its donation of F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine and its \u2062leadership of a coalition of \u2063nations to train Ukrainian pilots, a State Department\u2064 spokesperson said.<\/p>\n<p>Denmark and the Netherlands announced\u200c last month they would\u2064 supply more than 60 U.S.-made F-16s as \u2062soon \u2064as pilots are\u200c trained to fly them\u2014the first countries to offer the jets.<\/p>\n<p>Zelensky thanked allies in a post on Telegram: &#8220;Thanks to courage. Thanks to unity. Thanks to weapons. Thanks to the support of the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. government has so far provided more than $43 billion in weaponry and\u2063 other \u2063military aid to Ukraine since the \u200cRussian invasion in February last year. A\u2062 new package of security assistance is set to be announced \u200cthis week, Reuters reported on Friday.<\/p>\n<p>But several Republican presidential hopefuls have questioned U.S. aid, fueling\u200d concerns over\u2062 whether Washington will still back Ukraine\u200b at the same level once the\u2064 U.S. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/blinken-makes-surprise-visit-to-ukraine\/\" title=\"Blinken's Unexpected Trip to Ukraine\">2024 election campaign intensifies<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk\u200b in Washington;\u2062 additional reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv; editing by Timothy Heritage, Angus MacSwan, Peter Graff)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Secretary of State Antony Blinken&#8217;s unexpected trip to Ukraine aimed to provide support for Kyiv&#8217;s counteroffensive against Russia. However, the visit was swiftly overshadowed by a reported Russian assault on an eastern Ukrainian city, resulting in the tragic loss of 16 lives. President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the attack, emphasizing its impact on local marketplaces and shops.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":2023245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2023244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-free-beacon"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2023244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2023244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2023245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2023244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2023244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2023244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}