Blinken visits Kyiv amid deadly airstrike in Ukraine

Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on Wednesday amid a flurry of Russian airstrikes, including one that killed at least 16 civilians.

That airstrike hit a market in Kostyantynivka, an eastern city near the frontlines, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post. Overnight, Moscow fired cruise missiles at Kyiv in the first aerial attack on the capital in almost a week, according to Serhii Popko, head of Kyiv’s regional military administration.

Blinken touched down early Wednesday, with plans to meet Zelenskyy, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to show “unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and democracy” as its counteroffensive against Russian troops continues, the State Department said in a statement.

The counteroffensive has progressed slowly in recent months, drawing concerns from the international community about Ukraine’s ability to pierce Russia’s fortified frontlines. But Ukrainian troops have made headway, Blinken said.

“We’ve seen good progress on the counteroffensive,” Blinken told Kuleba, according to a State Department release.

Blinken is expected to announce more than $1 billion in new American aid to Ukraine, including financial and humanitarian aid, a senior State Department official told reporters traveling with the secretary of State, per The Associated Press.

The Kremlin criticized the new package, with spokesperson Dmitry Peskov saying that U.S. aid “can’t influence the course of the special military operation,” the term Moscow uses for its invasion of Ukraine.

Blinken emphasized, however, that Washington’s goal is to help Kyiv take back its land and thrive after the war ends.

“We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent,” Blinken also told Kuleba.

The trip to Ukraine is Blinken’s fourth since the war began, including one very brief excursion over the Polish-Ukrainian border in March 2022, just a month after the Russian invasion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.