Ukraine’s Zelensky met top US officials. What happened at the meet?

Top United States officials Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken visited Ukraine and met President Volodymyr Zelensky, the White House confirmed late Sunday. The visit from US Defense Secretary and State Department head marked the highest-level meeting in Ukraine since the Russian invasion started.

Zelensky’s last face-to-face meeting with a top United States official was on February 19 in Munich with Vice President Kamala Harris, five days before Russia’s invasion. 

Also Read: Long road out of Ukraine: How a family escaped besieged Mariupol on foot

What happened at the meeting?

Zelensky was promised additional aid from the United States, piling on the $3 billion that has already been sent Kyiv’s way. Blinken and Austin vowed $300 million in foreign military financing and also approved a $165 million sale of ammunition, Associated Press reported.

The American officials also promised that the country would re-establish its diplomatic presence, which was earlier reduced at the onset of the war. United States President Joe Biden would soon announce his nominee for Ambassador to Ukraine.

United States officials restricted reportedly restricted journalists from reporting Blinken and Austin’s visit until the two top officials had physically left the war-torn country. Officials cited “security concerns”, according to reports from Associated Press.

After the visit to Ukraine was announced, the Ukrainian President said that he does not expect American officials to “come empty-handed.” He added, “we are expecting not just presents or some kind of cakes, we are expecting specific things and specific weapons.”

Meanwhile, Russia kept focus on its “special operation” in Ukraine and launched fresh airstrikes on a Mariupol steel plant where an estimated 1,000 civilians are sheltering along with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters.

Also Read: Martyr mansion: Why a Ukrainian millionaire wanted his home bombed

The Azovstal steel mill where the defenders are holed up is the last corner of resistance in the city, otherwise occupied by the Russians.

The Russian military reported hitting 423 Ukrainian targets overnight, including fortified positions and troop concentrations, while its warplanes destroyed 26 Ukrainian military sites, including an explosives factory and several artillery depots.