Blinken Makes Surprise Visit to Ukraine, Brings Depleted Uranium Artillery
Ukraine’s counteroffensive has failed, corruption is rampant in Kyiv, and Americans want the war to end…But Biden is eyeing 2024 elections and can’t suffer another foreign policy defeat
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, President Joe Biden’s longtime valet who cashes in on his Washington ties when Republicans control D.C., made a surprise visit to Kyiv on Wednesday and promised another $1 billion from American taxpayers to support Ukraine’s failing war effort.
Instead of calling for peace and with his eyes, no doubt, on the 2024 elections, Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
The meeting appeared to be a desperate effort by Washington to promote more war after a series of embarrassments for Zelensky, including the resignation of Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov amid a high-profile corruption scandal.
Volodymyr Fesenko from the Kyiv-based Penta Center told the Associated Press: “Reznikov was a good and prominent international negotiator, but it appears that there is chaos and disorder within the Ministry of Defense, which many deputies have taken advantage of, resulting in corruption scandals during the war.”
The Kremlin claimed Blinken’s visit to Kyiv as more evidence that the U.S. was willing to fund the war “to the last Ukrainian,” CNBC reported.
“We have repeatedly heard statements that they [the U.S.] intend to continue helping Kyiv for as long as it takes,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, said Wednesday.
Most of the package will be earmarked for non-military aid, but $175 million will include new weapons, like depleted uranium munitions.
We reported in June that the U.S. was expected to follow the United Kingdom’s lead and provide the Ukrainian military with tank rounds with depleted uranium rounds that can pierce the coat of Russian tanks but raise health concerns for people in areas where these munitions are used.