The US is to reopen its embassy in Ukraine after America Secretary of State Antony Blinken pledged more support to the war-torn country.
The top diplomat, along with defence chief Lloyd Austin, secretly visited Kyiv over the weekend, meeting President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The two secretarys said the fact they were able to travel to Ukraine's capital was proof of its determination to force Moscow to abandon an assault on the capital last month.
"What you've done in repelling the Russians in the battle of Kyiv is extraordinary and inspiring quite frankly to the rest of the world," Mr Austin told Zelensky at a meeting.
”We are here to support you in any way possible."
Mr Blinken hailed Ukraine's success "in pushing back this horrific Russian aggression."
"In terms of Russia ’s war aims, Russia has already failed, and Ukraine has already succeeded," he said during a briefing in Poland on their way out of Ukraine.
The two men’s visit came after US leader Joe Biden continued to receive criticism in the States for not following other western leaders in visiting Kyiv in person to meet with Zelensky.
Mr Austin and Mr Blinken also pledged new assistance worth £560 million for Ukraine and other countries in the region.
One official said that an extra £253 million in military aid for Ukraine would take the total US security assistance since the invasion to more than £2.9 billion.
The money would help the country's armed forces to transition to more advanced weapons and air defence systems that were essentially NATO-compatible.
Mr Austin said: "We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.”
The White House has announced Mr Biden has nominated Bridget Brink, currently US ambassador in Slovakia, to be the new envoy to Kyiv.
