Blinken, Austin announce return of U.S. diplomats to Ukraine and $332M in military financing

The relevant statement was made by Reuters, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

According to the State Department official, U.S. diplomats will initially resume ‘day trips’ across the border to Lviv in the coming week, and officials are accelerating planning to return to the Kyiv mission.

The official also said that on Monday President Joe Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, a post that had remained vacant for more than two years.

Blinken and Austin also informed Zelensky of more than $322 million in new foreign military financing for Ukraine, bringing the total U.S. security assistance to Ukraine since the invasion to about $3.7 billion. Nearly $400 million in new foreign military financing will also go to 15 other nations in Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

According to Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby, more than 50 Ukrainians were set to complete training on Monday to operate Howitzer heavy artillery that Washington has begun sending to Ukraine in recent weeks.

A reminder that last night Advisor to the Head of the Ukrainian President’s Office Oleksiy Arestovych stated that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had arrived in Kyiv and had been holding talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.