US to announce more security assistance to Ukraine in coming days: Blinken

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US will announce more security assistance to Ukraine in the coming days, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday.

Speaking at a joint press conference with his British counterpart James Cleverly, Blinken reminded that the US has provided nearly $25 billion in security assistance to Ukraine over less than a year.

“And I would anticipate that you'll hear more announcements in the days to come,” he said.

“There'll be a meeting again at the end of the week of the so-called Ramstein group that (Defense) Secretary (Lloyd) Austin put together to make sure that we're coordinating security assistance among many countries. So stay tuned for more on that,” he added.

Blinken said the US is undertaking some efforts to “put Ukraine in the strongest possible position when a negotiating table emerges.”

He also criticized Russian claims that they are interested in diplomacy while Ukraine and the US are not.

“I think you only have to look at (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's own words,” he said, recalling a recent phone conversation between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Putin, during which Putin said he was ready for dialogue only if Kyiv accepts the "new territorial realities.”

Cleverly, for his part, thanked Blinken for the US being the “largest military and economic donor to our friends in Ukraine.”

The foreign ministers of both countries also condemned Iran’s recent execution of Iranian-British dual national Alireza Akbari.

Cleverly also accused Iran of supplying Russia with “drones that were used to kill civilians in Ukraine.” ​​​​​​​