KYIV, Ukraine — The U.S. secretaries of state and protection met Sunday night time with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy within the highest-level go to to the war-torn nation’s capital by an American delegation because the begin of Russia’s invasion.
The assembly with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was confirmed by presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych in an interview on Ukrainian TV.
It got here as Ukraine pressed the West for extra highly effective weapons in opposition to Russia’s marketing campaign within the Donbas area of japanese Ukraine, the place Moscow’s forces sought to dislodge the final Ukrainian troops within the battered port of Mariupol.
“Yes, they’re meeting with the president. Let’s hope something will be decided on further help,” Arestovych stated in an interview on Ukrainian TV.
Before the session, Zelenskyy stated he was in search of the Americans to provide outcomes, each in arms and safety ensures.
“You can’t come to us empty-handed today, and we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons,” he stated.
Zelenskyy’s final face-to-face assembly with a high U.S. official was Feb. 19 in Munich with Vice President Kamala Harris, 5 days earlier than Russia’s invasion. While the West has funneled army tools to Ukraine, Zelenskyy has careworn repeatedly that his nation wants extra heavy weapons, together with long-range air protection programs and warplanes.
In an obvious increase for Ukraine, polling businesses stated French President Emmanuel Macron would win re-election over far-right candidate Marine Le Pen. The consequence was hailed by France’s allies within the European Union as a reassuring signal of stability and continued assist for Ukraine.
France has performed a number one position in worldwide efforts to punish Russia with sanctions and is supplying weapons programs to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy’s assembly with U.S. officers passed off as Ukrainians and Russians noticed Orthodox Easter, when the trustworthy rejoice the resurrection of Jesus. Speaking from Kyiv’s historic St. Sophia Cathedral, Zelenskyy, who’s Jewish, highlighted its significance to a nation wracked by practically two months of conflict.
“The great holiday today gives us great hope and unwavering faith that light will overcome darkness, good will overcome evil, life will overcome death, and therefore Ukraine will surely win!” he stated.
Still, the conflict solid a shadow over celebrations. In the northern village of Ivanivka, the place Russian tanks nonetheless littered the roads, Olena Koptyl stated “the Easter holiday doesn’t bring any joy. I’m crying a lot. We cannot forget how we lived.”
The Russian army reported hitting 423 Ukrainian targets in a single day, together with fortified positions and troop concentrations, whereas its warplanes destroyed 26 Ukrainian army websites, together with an explosives manufacturing facility and several other artillery depots.
Since failing to seize Kyiv, the Russians have aimed to achieve full management over the japanese industrial heartland, the place Moscow-backed separatists managed some territory earlier than the conflict.
Two women, aged 5 and 14, died in shelling within the city of Ocheretyne, a part of the commercial area, Ukraine’s nationwide police stated.
Russian forces launched contemporary airstrikes on a Mariupol metal plant the place an estimated 1,000 civilians are sheltering together with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters. The Azovstal metal mill the place the defenders are holed up is the final nook of resistance within the metropolis, in any other case occupied by the Russians.
Source: www.bostonherald.com”