Antony Blinken: U.S. to Send Another $2 Billion to Ukraine

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the United States will be providing another $2 billion worth of aid to Ukraine.

As ABC News reports, Blinken made the announcement from Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv during a press conference with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. The aid will primarily be used for purchasing weapons from the U.S. as well as investments in Ukraine’s own manufacturing capabilities. In addition, some of the funding will be used to buy weapons and other supplies from other countries.

“All of this, in particular as we think about the defense industrial base, builds on an incredible spirit of innovation, of ingenuity, of entrepreneurship that we see here in Ukraine,” said Blinken.

The announcement comes after Joe Biden already signed a $60 billion aid package into law back in April, as part of a broader $95 billion foreign aid bill that included additional support for Israel and Taiwan.

“The $60 billion supplemental, we know, is coming at a critical time,” said Blinken. “Ukraine is facing this renewed brutal Russian onslaught, and we see again senseless strikes on civilians and residential buildings.”

Blinken’s surprise trip to Kyiv has only earned him widespread mockery and criticism, after he was seen performing an impromptu rock concert on Tuesday, playing the guitar and singing “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Blinken’s stunt was widely panned as out-of-touch and downplaying the severity of the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing for over two years.