US officials did not announce the visit, but Zelensky revealed it in a speech on Saturday, saying he would use the meeting to discuss “the military assistance we need.” The Pentagon and the State Department had no immediate comment.
Mr. Blinken was the last high-ranking US official to visit Ukraine when he stopped by in mid-January. The United States closed its embassy in kyiv on February 14 and its diplomats soon left the country.
Russia’s invasion began 10 days later, and as it attempted to seize the capital in an initial offensive, parts of kyiv were bombed and Ukrainian and Russian forces fought in the streets of the kyiv suburbs. But Russia’s withdrawal from the area around Kyiv appears to have made the city much less dangerous than it was a few weeks ago, and Western leaders have taken the opportunity to show solidarity with Zelensky.
In March, just a few weeks after the Russian invasion, the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia traveled to kyiv on a mission that was kept secret. Over the next few weeks, they were followed by the leaders of Britain, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Estonia, Spain, and Denmark. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, visited kyiv and Bucha, where, after Russia’s withdrawal, journalists and investigators found evidence of atrocities.
In March, Vice President Kamala Harris traveled to Poland, where she expressed US support for Ukraine and US allies in NATO and the European Union. Blinken made it as far as Poland’s border with Ukraine and met with Ukrainian diplomats at a crossing used by hundreds of refugees over the course of an hour.
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