The military assistance to Ukraine, which was discussed during the U.S. Senators and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Kyiv, concerns the enhancing of security in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
This was stated by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in an exclusive interview for Axios.
"I had a meeting in person with U.S. Senators that came over, and with the United States Secretary of State, and we discussed possible increase in military assistance. We talked about… unfortunately, I won't be able to share the details with you now, but it is very, very important for us. It was about security, it was about enhancing security in the Black and the Azov seas, along the shoreline, for our position is rather weak there, in my opinion: Russia is virtually dominating all of the Black Sea, it is true, and we admit that, and we would like to have a strong force there — for defense purposes only, for defending our country and our borders," Zelensky said.
He said some other issues related to providing assistance to Ukraine in the security sphere had also been discussed, according to the TV news service TSN.
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U.S. military aid
- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has long been an advocate for the idea of providing Ukraine with lethal defensive weapons. He had also called the Donald Trump Administration to send military aid to Ukraine.
- In March 2021, it became known that the Pentagon was allocating US$125 million to Ukraine for the security sector. In particular, the funds will be given for training of the Ukrainian military, providing equipment and advisory support to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine protect "the territorial integrity of the country, its borders and improve relations with NATO."
- In May 2021, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Ruslan Khomchak said the Russian Federation had constantly been provoking the Ukrainian Navy in the waters of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
