Blinken reaffirms US commitment to send more weapons to Ukraine Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken. (State Department Photo by Ron Przysucha)
This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken says Washington will not let anything stand in the way of sending Ukraine more of the weapons it needs in its fight against Russia.
Speaking to reporters on April 7 at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Blinken said the United States is looking at what new weapons it can send to Ukraine. He said there’s a greater determination than ever to stand with Ukraine.
Blinken also said Russia must decide if it wants to engage in meaningful diplomacy with Ukraine.
Blinken said the killings of civilians in the town of Bucha are not a major factor in peace talks but said it is likely that Russian forces are carrying out more “atrocities” in parts of Ukraine.
“For every Bucha, there are many more towns Russia has occupied and more towns that it is still occupying, places where we must assume Russian soldiers are committing more atrocities right now,” Blinken said.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba earlier on April 7 pressed NATO for more weapons amid expectations that Russia is repositioning its forces before launching a major offensive in southeastern Ukraine.
The best way to help Ukraine is to provide the country with everything it needs to put Russian President Vladimir Putin in his place and defeat the Russian Army, Kuleba said.
Kuleba said he expects his country will be supplied by NATO with all of the weapons it needs to defend itself, but he said the outstanding question is when the arms would arrive.
“The discussion is not about the list of weapons. The discussion is about the timeline,” he said, adding that the more weapons Ukraine gets and the sooner they arrive, the more human lives will be saved.
