Blinken: US to give Ukraine additional $2 billion in military financing

Washington will provide Ukraine with an additional $2 billion in foreign military financing, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced on May 15.

Blinken made the announcement in Kyiv during a press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba. Blinken arrived in Kyiv on May 14.

Blinken described the new military financing support as "the first of its kind."

The support will not only help provide Ukraine with weapons that are needed today, but will also help the country invest in its own defense industrial base in the long term, Blinken said.

The military financing support will also assist Kyiv with purchasing military equipment from other countries, not just the U.S., Blinken said.

"All of this, in particular thinking about the defense industrial base, builds on an incredible spirit of innovation, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship that we see here in Ukraine."

"Everyone's eyes are focused on the situation in the northeast," Biden added, referring to Ukraine's defense of Kharkiv Oblast.

"The newest support that I just announced, but particularly the $60 billion supplemental, we know is coming at a critical time."  

Blinken said the U.S. is "rushing" to get ammunition, armored vehicles, and missiles to the front line.

The U.S. is working "to ensure Ukraine can deliver on the battlefield today," but also "deter and defend against future attacks and fundamentally secure for the Ukrainian people the right to decide their own future," Blinken said.

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