Kyiv, Moscow The US has shown its solidarity with Ukraine by visiting a senior government delegation in Kyiv. Foreign Secretary Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin traveled to the Ukrainian capital on Sunday. They met there with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, Russian attacks in Ukraine also continued on Orthodox Easter. A serious fire broke out in a Russian oil storage facility not far from the border with Ukraine. It was initially unclear whether there was a connection to the war in Ukraine.
Little was initially known about Blinken and Austin’s visit to Kyiv on Monday night. Only the Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video interview on Sunday evening that “right now” they would meet Zelenskyy in Kyiv. It’s about how the US could help Ukraine.
According to the first information, it should be about further financial aid in the amount of 322 million dollars. “This will support the military capabilities needed by Ukraine, particularly the fight in Donbas,” a US State Department official said.
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“This aid will also help Ukraine’s armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defense systems that are essentially NATO-ready.” This brings total US security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion to about $3.7 billion.
The Ukrainian President wanted to talk about further arms deliveries and other support.
Zelensky’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih is preparing for an imminent attack by Russian troops. The Ukrainian armed forces expect an offensive in the coming days, the local military chief Oleksandr Vikul wrote in the online service Telegram.
No ceasefire for Orthodox Easter
Multi-level defense lines have been set up and attempts are being made to evacuate civilians from vulnerable areas. Kryvyi Rih is an important industrial center for Ukraine, thanks in part to the mining of iron ore. The city has repeatedly been the target of rocket attacks in recent weeks.
>> Read about this: Russia extends its war aim to Moldova
Fighting and attacks continued into the Orthodox Easter celebrations on Sunday. According to Ukrainian information, the Russian military and separatist units supporting them advanced in the east in the Donbass region. Five civilians were killed.
Ukrainian forces recaptured several towns in the Mykolaiv region. In the Poltava region southwest of the city of Kharkiv, Russian troops fired new rockets at infrastructure objects.
Major fire in Russian oil storage facility
A serious fire broke out in a Russian oil depot near the border with Ukraine on Monday night. The fire caught storage tanks in the city of Bryansk, civil protection told the TASS news agency. Firefighting work was in progress.
Initially, there was no information about the possible cause or whether there was a connection to the war in Ukraine. Videos posted online showed high flames from a distance. Bryansk is less than 150 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
In early April, Russia blamed Ukraine for a fire at an oil storage facility in the Russian city of Belgorod. According to the Russian account, two Ukrainian helicopters fired rockets at the plant. Ukraine rejected this. Belgorod is less than 50 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.
OSCE demands release of four detained employees
The top of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) called for the immediate release of four local employees in eastern Ukraine. They were arrested in areas of the Luhansk and Donetsk districts that are not under the control of the government in Kyiv.
“They have been detained without charge for some time and the OSCE and their families are not sufficiently informed about their situation,” said Polish Foreign Minister and current OSCE Chair Zbigniew Rau. The local staff remained in Ukraine after the departure of international observers.
More Handelsblatt articles on the war in Ukraine
That will be important on Monday
In Germany, the debate about arms deliveries to Ukraine will continue. The Union increased the pressure on the traffic light coalition with the draft for a resolution with which it wants to force such deliveries in the Bundestag if necessary.
Two months after the arrival of the first war refugees, a meeting of state actors and volunteers is to be held in the Chancellery. The aim is to organize the distribution, accommodation and labor market integration of the refugees in the best possible way. UN Secretary-General António Guterres will first travel to Turkey before visiting Moscow and Kyiv.
More: You can follow the latest developments in our news blog