The fighting continues on Tuesday, May 14, in the Kharkiv region, in the northeast of Ukraine, where the Russian army launched an offensive and seized tens of square kilometers, with kyiv claiming for its part hold and have reinforced the area. While on the diplomatic front, Antony Blinken is visiting kyiv today to ensure the support of the United States.
The facts to remember
⇒ Blinken is in kyiv for the fourth time since the start of the war
⇒ Washington will soon announce a new aid package for Ukraine
⇒ 30,000 Russian soldiers in the offensive in northeastern Ukraine
Blinken in kyiv to ensure American support
The head of American diplomacy Antony Blinken arrived Tuesday morning in kyiv for a surprise visit intended to reassure the Ukrainians of the continued support of the United States, and to promise a flow of arms, at a time when Russia is leading an offensive in the region from Kharkiv (north-east). Antony Blinken, whose fourth visit to kyiv since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, arrived by night train in the Ukrainian capital from Poland and is due to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, according to an AFP journalist accompanying him.
“This trip aims firstly to send a strong signal to reassure the Ukrainians who are clearly in a very difficult situation, both due to the intensification of fighting on the Eastern Front, but also because the Russians are now expanding their cross-border attacks to Kharkiv,” a senior U.S. official aboard the train carrying the secretary of state told reporters. Antony Blinken intends in particular to “detail how our aid will be implemented in such a way as to strengthen their defenses and allow them to regain the initiative” on the battlefield, he added on condition of anonymity.
“It is clear that the Russians are throwing everything they have in the east, and the extension of the fighting in Kharkiv is representative of this strategy of trying to throw everything they have against the Ukrainians,” according to the American official. “But we are confident that the Ukrainians will become increasingly successful in repelling the Russians as help from the United States and other allies and partners reaches them,” he said.
A new aid package for Ukraine
The United States is doing “everything humanly possible” to quickly provide weapons to Ukraine, facing a new Russian offensive, Jake Sullivan, advisor to American President Joe Biden, said on Monday. A new aid package will be announced “in the coming days”, in order to accelerate the “pace of deliveries”, added Mike Sullivan, national security advisor, during a press briefing.
Faced with a Russian offensive in the northeast, kyiv had warned for weeks that Moscow could try to attack the border regions, faced with delays in Western aid and a lack of troops.
Olaf Scholz and Nordic countries call for more aid to Ukraine
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his Nordic counterparts called on Monday, during a meeting in Sweden, to urgently step up aid to Ukraine, which faces a new Russian assault near Kharkiv (north). -East). “We will support Ukraine as long as it takes,” the chancellor said at a press conference in Stockholm.
Germany, which announced in April the sending of an additional Patriot air defense system to Ukraine, is urging its European allies to follow its example. Berlin “hopes that other European countries will follow, because ultimately we need a lot of ammunition and artillery tanks and air defense systems,” the chancellor said. “We must do more. It is very important that the debate does not stop there, but that real decisions are taken throughout Europe,” insisted Olaf Scholz.
30,000 Russian soldiers in the offensive in northeastern Ukraine
The Russian army launched a surprise offensive against the Kharkiv region on Friday, making small advances near the border, an area from which it was driven almost two years ago. “About 50,000 (Russian soldiers) were at the border. Now there are well over 30,000 attacking” in the region since Friday, Oleksandr Lytvynenko, Ukraine’s national security chief, said during a press conference. an interview granted to AFP.
However, he assured that there was at this stage no land “threat” against the city of Kharkiv, located around thirty kilometers from the combat zone and which had nearly 1.5 million inhabitants. before the Russian invasion launched in February 2022. “Russian actions continue in the border area. We can say that we do not see a threat of (land) assault against the city of Kharkiv,” assured Oleksandr Lytvynenko, 52 years old, who has held his position since the end of March. This industrial and university city, however, has been targeted almost daily by Russian air strikes since the start of the war.