During this trip, announced on Saturday by Mr. Zelensky but confirmed by the United States only on Monday, after their exit from Ukraine, the two ministers expressed their solidarity with the Ukrainian leader.
The visit was all the more symbolic as it took place on the day of the Orthodox Easter, celebrated in pain and meditation in the country at war.
The two officials announced the gradual return of a US diplomatic presence in Ukraine and additional direct and indirect military aid of $713 million.
Return of American diplomats
“We want our diplomats to return to our embassy in Kyiv as soon as possible”commented a senior American official.
Mr. Blinken also announced the appointment in the coming days of a new US Ambassador to Ukraine. It will be Bridget Brink, current ambassador to Slovakia. The position in Ukraine had been occupied since 2019 by project managers.
The United States is much more cautious than several European countries which have already reopened their embassies in kyiv.
The arrival in kyiv of MM. Blinken and Austin was the first of U.S. officials since the conflict began Feb. 24. It came after those of several European leaders in recent weeks.
President Zelensky had announced on Saturday that they were coming to discuss US arms deliveries to Ukraine. “The friendship and collaboration between Ukraine and the United States is stronger than ever”he welcomed Sunday on Twitter.
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On YouTube, an adviser to Mr. Zelensky, Oleksiï Arestovitch repeated kyiv’s desire to be delivered “offensive weapons”: “As long as we can’t counter-attack, there will be a ‘new Boutcha’ every day”he launched, alluding to this city in the northwestern suburbs of kyiv which became a symbol of the atrocities committed during the Russian occupation of the region in March.
“Save all Ukrainians!”launched Sunday Mr. Zelensky in a message for the feast of Easter.
“Burning Hatred”
“Our souls are filled with burning hatred for the invaders and all they have done”he continued. “Transform it into a beneficial force to defeat the forces of evil”.
Continued fighting has clouded the Easter ceremonies.
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In the small church of Lyman (east), under the regular fire of Russian shells, about fifty civilians had gathered at dawn, while the roar of artillery was heard.
“If we make the wrong choices, the darkness will ruin us, as the darkness destroys us during this war”declaimed the priest in his sermon.
call for truce
The UN has called for a truce “immediate” in Mariupol, a strategic port on the Sea of Azov almost entirely controlled by the Russian army, in order to allow the evacuation of some 100,000 civilians still stuck in the city in ruins, besieged since the beginning of March.
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The shelling and fighting claimed the lives of more than 20,000 civilians in Mariupol, according to Mayor Vadym Boychenko, who denounced on the Ukraine 24 channel that “Russian occupation forces prevent evacuations”.
“Every day, every hour that passes has a terrible human cost”deplored the International Committee of the Red Cross, calling urgently “the voluntary and safe passage of thousands of civilians and hundreds of wounded out of the city, including the area of the Azovstal factory”the last pocket of resistance of Ukrainian fighters.
Russian forces are still besieging and shelling the factory, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry. But “the (Ukrainian) defense lines are about to collapse” in Mariupol, specified the adviser of the president Oleksiï Arestovitch.
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Commander of the 36th Mariupol Marine Brigade, Sergey Volyna, stressed to him the urgency of accelerating efforts to free the soldiers and civilians besieged in the steelworks.
“It is very difficult to defend yourself with a machine gun against bombers or cruise missiles, or even assault groups advancing on dozens of tanks”underlined Mr. Volyna.
An adviser to President Zelensky said that Ukraine had offered Russia to hold “a special session of talks right next to the Azovstal site”indicating “wait for response”.
The Ukrainian Presidency also again offered negotiations “to take or trade” soldiers, a proposal ignored by Moscow so far.
The OSCE “extremely concerned”
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said on Sunday “extremely worried” following the arrest, in the pro-Russian separatist eastern Ukrainian territories, of four members of its 2014 ceasefire observation mission, installed after the conflict which had broken out between these regions and kyiv after the Russian annexation of Crimea (south).
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The OSCE had evacuated several hundred observers at the start of the Russian invasion. But Ukrainian employees remained on site “carrying out administrative tasks”four of whom are detained in Donetsk and Lugansk (east), deplored the OSCE in a press release.
This situation, which lasts “for some time now”is “unacceptable”commented Zbigniew Rau, head of Polish diplomacy and chairman-in-office of the OSCE.
Separatist security forces accuse arrested OSCE employees of “high treason”. They had indicated on Friday that one of them had “confessed” to have transmitted “confidential military information to representatives of foreign special services”.
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photo">Destroyed buildings in Irpin, a suburb of kyiv in Ukraine on April 24, 2022AFP / Genya SAVILOV.
Fighting continues to rage in eastern and southern Ukraine. According to the Ukrainian general staff, Kharkiv, the country’s second city, remains “partially blocked” by the Russian forces which continue to bombard. A woman was killed there and a man injured on Sunday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
In the Donbass basin (east), formed by the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, Russian troops have “intensified their offensives” in three directions, according to the Ukrainian general staff: Severodonetsk, de facto capital of the Lugansk region under Ukrainian control, Popasna, about fifty kilometers further south, and Kurakhikva, near Donetsk.
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Lugansk Governor Sergiy Gaiday told Ukraine 24 that tens of thousands of civilians remained in the area despite constant shelling. “Unfortunately, there are mostly old people who feel that since they were born here, they should die here,” he said.
And in the Donetsk region, five civilians were killed and five injured on Sunday, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko wrote on Telegram.
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In Koroviy Iar, a town in the north of Donbass where the Russians have taken up position since Saturday, fighting was taking place at the entrance to the village, AFP noted. Ukrainian tanks and armor reinforced the counter-offensive and covered an attempt to evacuate 30 civilians.
The Russian army, for its part, said on Sunday that it had carried out missile strikes against nine Ukrainian military targets, including four ammunition depots south of the Kharkiv region.
Moscow also said it carried out airstrikes against 26 targets, and 423 artillery strikes, without specifying locations.
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A destroyed residential area in Irpin, northwest of kyiv, on April 24, 2022AFP / Genya SAVILOV.
On the diplomatic front, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is expected Monday in Turkey, a country that is trying to mediate in the conflict, before going to Moscow and then kyiv.
The number of refugees who have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion is approaching 5.2 million, according to the UN. More than 7.7 million people have also left their homes but are still in Ukraine.
