The United States has announced new military assistance for Ukraine and a renewed diplomatic push as President Joe Biden's Secretary of State and Pentagon chief completed a secrecy-shrouded trip to Kyiv.
Top envoy Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday local time told Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and his advisers, that the US would provide more than $US300 million ($417 million) in foreign military financing and had approved a $US165 million sale of ammunition.
The trip is the highest-level US visit to the capital since Russia invaded in late February.
Mr Blinken said Russia was failing in its war aims and "Ukraine is succeeding".
The US envoys also said Mr Biden would soon announce his nominee to be ambassador to Ukraine and that American diplomats who left Ukraine before the war would start returning to the country this coming week.
The US Embassy in Kyiv will remain closed for the moment.
Mr Zelenskyy had announced on Saturday that he would meet with the US officials in Kyiv on Sunday, but the Biden administration refused to confirm that and declined to discuss details of a possible visit even though planning had been underway for more than a week.
Journalists who travelled with Mr Austin and Mr Blinken to Poland were barred from reporting on the trip until it was over, were not allowed to accompany them on their overland journey into Ukraine, and were prohibited from specifying where in south-east Poland they waited for the cabinet members to return.
Officials at the State Department and the Pentagon cited security concerns.
Funding to go to Ukraine and allied countries
Mr Austin and Mr Blinken announced a total of $US713 million in foreign military financing for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries; some $US322 million is earmarked for Kyiv.
The remainder will be split among NATO members and other nations that have provided Ukraine with critical military supplies since the war with Russia began, officials said.
Such financing is different from previous US military assistance for Ukraine.
It is not a donation of drawn-down US Defence Department stockpiles, but rather cash that countries can use to purchase supplies that they might need.
The new money, along with the sale of $US165 million in non-US-made ammunition that is compatible with Soviet-era weapons the Ukrainians use, brings the total amount of American military assistance to Ukraine to $US3.7 billion since the invasion, officials said.
Mr Zelenskyy had urged the Americans not to come empty-handed.
US officials said they believed the new assistance would satisfy at least some of the Ukrainians' urgent pleas for more help.
New artillery, including howitzers, continues to be delivered at a rapid pace to Ukraine's military, which is being trained on its use in neighbouring countries, the officials said.
Russia has warned the United States against sending more arms to Ukraine, Moscow's ambassador to Washington told Russian state television.
"We stressed the unacceptability of this situation when the United States of America pours weapons into Ukraine, and we demanded an end to this practice," Anatoly Antonov said in an interview with the Rossiya 24 TV channel.
Mr Antonov said an official diplomatic note had been sent to Washington expressing Russia's concerns.
Nominee for US ambassador to Ukraine revealed
On the diplomatic front, Mr Blinken told Mr Zelenskyy that Mr Biden will announce his nomination of veteran diplomat Bridget Brink to be the next US ambassador to Ukraine.
A career foreign service officer, Ms Brink has served since 2019 as ambassador to Slovakia.
She previously held assignments in Serbia, Cyprus, Georgia and Uzbekistan as well as with the White House National Security Council.
The post requires confirmation by the US Senate.
Mr Blinken also told Ukraine's foreign minister that the small staff from the now-shuttered US Embassy in Kyiv, which has relocated to Poland from temporary offices in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, would begin making day trips to Lviv in the coming days.
Officials said the US had accelerated its review of security conditions in the capital and that the State Department would reopen the embassy there as soon as the situation allows.
On Thursday, Mr Biden said he would provide a new package of $US800 million in military aid to Ukraine that included heavy artillery and drones.
Congress approved $US6.5 billion for military assistance last month as part of $US13.6 billion in spending for Ukraine and allies in response to the Russian invasion.
From Poland, Mr Blinken plans to return to Washington while Mr Austin will head to Rammstein, Germany, for a meeting on Tuesday of NATO defence ministers and other donor countries.
That discussion will look at battlefield updates from the ground, additional security assistance for Ukraine and longer-term defence needs in Europe, including how to step up military production to fill gaps caused by the war in Ukraine, officials said.
More than 20 nations are expected to send representatives to the meeting.
AP
