Blinken Visits Ukraine During Precarious Moment in the War and U.S. Politics

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with top officials in Kyiv on Wednesday morning to discuss Ukraine’s war effort at a precarious moment in the country’s defense against the Russian invasion.

The visit comes as the Biden administration struggles to curtail aid to Russia from China, Iran and North Korea and as the U.S. presidential elections loom over the conflict.

Mr. Blinken stepped off a private overnight train from Poland that also carried his British counterpart, David Lammy. The two men met throughout the day with military and civilian officials, including Ukraine’s new top diplomat, Andrii Sybiha, who was appointed last Thursday by President Volodymyr Zelensky as part of a major overhaul of the government’s top ranks.

“It’s wonderful to be back in Kyiv, even in these most challenging times, maybe especially in challenging times,” Mr. Blinken said as he and Mr. Lammy sat across from Mr. Sybiha in the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry, next to a plaza with destroyed Russian tanks. “The United Kingdom and the United States stand shoulder to shoulder in support of Ukraine,” Mr. Blinken added.

Mr. Lammy, making his first trip to Ukraine as Britain’s foreign secretary, said, “We have a three-billion-pound commitment to Ukraine to spend year on year” until what he described as “Russian imperialism and aggression” came to an end.

Officials from the three nations then began their private meeting, with the topics of discussion including military aid commitments and the persistent Ukrainian request to use imported weapons for longer-range strikes in Russia.

After the meeting at the ministry, Mr. Blinken visited a restaurant in Kyiv owned by Yevhen Klopotenko, a prominent chef who helped persuade UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, to put borscht on its intangible cultural heritage list. Then Mr. Blinken went to the presidential palace to meet with Mr. Zelensky.

The joint visit by Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy was aimed at presenting a strong show of solidarity for Ukraine — a message to both Mr. Zelensky and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, as well as the rest of the world.

While both men have made comments in recent months theoretically indicating an openness to negotiating a settlement to the over 30-month full-scale war begun by Moscow, Mr. Putin’s vision of a reconstituted Russian empire is untenable to Ukraine, and U.S. officials say he has shown no signs of wanting to reach a peace agreement. Mr. Putin’s grand invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was a continuation of his annexation of Crimea and military offensive in eastern Ukraine that began in 2014.

Mr. Zelensky said last month that his multiphase plan for peace involves forcing Russia to end the war on terms that are “fair” to Ukraine.

The first debate between former President Donald J. Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris took place in the middle of the night during the train ride. A few passengers on Mr. Blinken’s train stayed up to watch at least the start of the debate, after a few sips of wine, but most scrambled online in the morning to read assessments of the televised event.

Officials in Ukraine were no doubt tracking the debate as well: Mr. Trump, who admires Mr. Putin, has rallied a significant number of Republican politicians to oppose U.S. military aid to Ukraine, while Ms. Harris has vowed to continue the Biden administration’s policies of supporting the besieged country.

In recent weeks, the Ukrainian military has made a surprising incursion into the Russian region Kursk and managed to hold onto captured territory, lifting morale in Ukraine. But that offensive has failed to divert Russian units from their onslaught in eastern Ukraine, where they continue to make small gains.

Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy are expected to listen to entreaties from Ukrainian officials for permission for the Ukrainian military to use American and British weapons for strikes deep into Russian territory. In May, the Biden administration gave Ukraine permission to use U.S. weapons for shorter cross-border attacks against Russian sites being used in an offensive against the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. Since then, U.S. officials have allowed the Ukrainian military to make that kind of shorter strike at other places along the border.

Mr. Blinken said in an interview with Sky News on Tuesday that the Biden administration had to take complex factors into account when making such decisions, but did not rule out giving more latitude to Ukraine.

“We’ve adapted and adjusted every step along the way, and we’ll continue — so not ruling out at this stage,” he said. “We don’t. We never rule out. But when we rule in, we want to make sure it’s done in such a way that it can advance what the Ukrainians are trying to achieve.”

Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy said at a news conference in London on Tuesday that Iran had shipped short-range ballistic missiles to Russia, confirming earlier news reports based on U.S. and European officials’ assessments. They said they were coordinating on actions to take against Iran and Russia. The U.S. Treasury Department on Tuesday announced details of sanctions they were imposing against 10 individuals and six entities, as well as four vessels.

“It is definitely a significant escalation,” by Iran, Mr. Lammy said. Iranian officials have denied they made any such shipment.

Until now, Iran has mainly been supplying Russia with drones, while North Korea has been providing artillery shells. The Biden administration says Chinese companies are selling factory machine tools and microelectronics to Russia to help it rebuild its arms production industry.