Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv and was expected to announce more than $1 billion in new American funding for Ukraine in the 18-month-old war.
“Those who know this place are well aware that it is a civilian area," Zelenskyy said later at a news conference with visiting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. “There aren’t any military units nearby. The strike was deliberate.” About $175 million of the total will be in the form of weaponry to be provided from Pentagon stockpiles, the official said. Another $100 million will be in the form of grants to allow the Ukrainians to purchase additional arms and equipment, the official said, also on condition of anonymity.
Biden and the Pentagon, however, have said repeatedly they they will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. As of Aug. 29, there was approximately $5.75 billion left in the already approved funding for weapons and equipment taken from existing Pentagon stocks. On the train to Kyiv, Blinken met with Frederiksen, also on an official visit, and thanked her for Denmark’s leadership in training Ukrainian pilots on F-16s and for promising to donate the fighter jets to Ukraine, according to State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller.
Blinken told Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba that the U.S. has “seen good progress in the counteroffensive. It’s very heartening.” In the Odesa region, one person was killed in a Russian missile and drone attack on the port of Izmail that damaged grain elevators, administrative buildings and agricultural enterprises, authorities said.