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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on 19th of January, stressed the importance of US military aid in the current “tough times” with the build-up of Russian troops at their shared border.
This is reported by UA with link to the Associated Press after the press-briefing of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the US Secretary of the State Antony Blinken.
Speaking during a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Kyiv, Zelenskyy said Ukraine needed “help” in quickly modernising its military.
“This support not only speaks to our strategic plans of Ukraine joining the alliance (NATO), but more importantly to the level of our military, our military supplies. Yes, we allocate the largest amounts for the (military) budget since gaining independence, but we still understand that if we want dramatically fast steps in modernising the military, we need help. Especially in these tough times.” – Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine said
The Biden administration said Wednesday it is providing an additional USD 200 million in defensive military aid to the country amid soaring fears of a Russian invasion.
The US has not concluded whether Putin plans to invade or whether the show of force is intended to squeeze security concessions without an actual conflict.
“There are some 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine’s borders, and in that sense, the threat to Ukraine is unprecedented. So the president (Joe Biden) asked me to underscore once again our commitment to Ukraine’s territorial integrity, to its sovereignty, to its independence.” – stressed Antony Blinken, US Secretary of State.
Russia in 2014 seized the Crimean Peninsula after the ouster of Ukraine’s Moscow-friendly leader and also threw its weight behind a separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine.
More than 14,000 people have been killed in nearly eight years of fighting between the Russia-backed rebels and Ukrainian forces in the country’s industrial heartland called Donbas.
To remind, on January 19, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky met with Secretary of State of the United States of America Anthony Blinken. During the talks, the interlocutors discussed the economic and financial cooperation between the countries, as well as the process of de-escalation of the situation around Ukraine.
Read also: Blinken: If we let Russia go with impunity, we will open Pandora’s box
