Reception of ministers in Kyiv
Zelenskyj expects US help for more German weapons
4/23/2022 11:26 p.m
On Sunday, Ukrainian President Zelenskyy is expecting US Secretary of State Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Austin to visit Kyiv. From the conversation he hopes that both will put more pressure on Germany to deliver the heavy war equipment he is demanding.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hoping for US support for arms deliveries from Germany. “So that they (Germany) can start delivering what they have and what they aren’t using,” Zelensky said at a press conference in a Kyiv subway station.
He reminds you of this in every conversation with German representatives. The war is in Ukraine and “you have what you don’t need right now, and we need a lot,” emphasized the head of state. Visitors are currently very welcome, but not to take any “selfies”. “You can’t come to us today empty-handed. We don’t just expect gifts or cakes. We expect concrete things and concrete weapons.”
Because of the Russian war of aggression that has been going on for two months, Kyiv is demanding the delivery of heavy weapons from Germany. Exactly two months after Russia’s war against Ukraine began, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are expected to visit Kyiv on Sunday. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that he would receive the two US ministers in the capital the following day. It is the first official visit by US officials to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
US again delivers weapons for 800 million dollars
Zelenskyy announced that talks with Blinken and Austin would revolve around US arms supplies for the Ukrainian armed forces. US President Joe Biden pledged to deliver more arms to Ukraine in the amount of 800 million dollars (around 740 million euros) on Thursday. According to him, this includes drones, artillery weapons, dozens of howitzers and 144,000 rounds of ammunition for the howitzers.
The US government had previously launched an initial military aid package for Ukraine in the same amount of $800 million. This package included artillery systems, artillery ammunition, armored vehicles and helicopters, among others. Selenskyj was “grateful” for this US aid. But he also said that Ukraine would like to get “even heavier and more powerful weapons”. Zelenskyj also expressed the hope that President Biden would also visit Ukraine if the security situation permitted.
At the same time, the Ukrainian head of state criticized the fact that UN Secretary-General António Guterres intends to travel first to Moscow in the coming week and only then to Kyiv. It was “just wrong” for Guterres to go to Russia first, he said. There is “no justice and no logic” in the order of the visits. Guterres plans to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Tuesday. He then plans to travel to Kyiv for talks with Selensky and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
The Ukrainian President also appealed again to Putin to meet with him “to end the war”. He is “not afraid” to meet with the Russian head of state if this leads to a peace agreement. However, Zelenskyi also repeated his warning that Ukraine would break off talks with Russia if the Ukrainian forces holding out in the besieged port city of Mariupol were killed by the Russian army.