US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kiev on Wednesday for a series of meetings with senior government officials, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Mr. Blinken and Mr. Lammy arrived at Kiev’s central train station, about to begin a busy schedule at a crucial moment in the war, when Kiev was pressing its allies to allow troops to push deeper into Russian territory with Western weapons.
They announced the trip at a press conference at the Foreign Office in London, as Joe Biden appeared set to allow Ukraine to fire Western-supplied missiles deep into Russia.
Mr Lammy said when he received Mr Blinken for talks in London ahead of the visit to Kiev: “On Russia and Ukraine, I can confirm today that Tony and I will travel to Kiev this week – the first joint visit of this nature in over a decade.
“We are the closest allies, so I am pleased that we will travel together and demonstrate our commitment to Ukraine.”
Mr Blinked added: “I think this is a critical moment for Ukraine, in the midst of an intense autumn season of fighting, with Russia continuing to ramp up its aggression.
“Aggression against civilians, against critical infrastructure, and of course against Ukrainian forces. We see it stepping up its attacks on cities, people in particular, targeting energy infrastructure, electricity, all ahead of the coldest months.
“Putin's Winter Playbook for Weaponizing Energy and Electricity.”
America's top diplomat held talks with Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Lammy on Tuesday about the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
The discussions in London were presented as strategic-level conversations, rather than responses to specific incidents.
They come as Britain is pressuring its allies to allow Ukraine to use Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia.
Putin's army is using “glide bombs” fired far behind the front lines to attack towns and villages in Ukraine with devastating results.
His war, which began in February 2022, has left hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers dead and wounded, while Ukrainian forces have suffered an equal number of casualties. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of civilians have also been killed.
European intelligence agencies suspect that Iran recently delivered a significant quantity of short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.
Mr Blinken confirmed that Washington will tighten sanctions on Iran after Tehran supplied ballistic missiles to Russia.
“The United States will announce further sanctions against Iran later today, including additional measures against Iran Air. “We expect allies and partners to announce their own new measures against Iran as well,” Mr Blinken said.
The US has warned Iran that supplying ballistic missiles to Russia for use in Ukraine would constitute “a dramatic escalation”, he said.
“Russia has now received shipments of these ballistic missiles and will likely deploy them in Ukraine against the Ukrainians within weeks,” he added.
Iran's ballistic missile system, which has a maximum range of 120 kilometers, allows Russia to target its arsenal further away from the front lines, he said.
Ahead of the meetings with Mr Blinken, Mr Lammy said: “The special relationship has been cherished on both sides of the Atlantic for more than 80 years, but together we are determined to strengthen our alliance and bring security and growth to Britons and Americans alike.
“In a world that is becoming increasingly unstable and uncertain, it is even more important that we are countries that are closely aligned with each other.”
Sir Keir flies to Washington on Friday for talks with Joe Biden.
The State Department said Blinken would also discuss the Indo-Pacific region and the AUKUS defense pact between the US, Australia and Britain in London.
Meanwhile, Ukraine on Tuesday carried out one of the largest drone strikes ever on Moscow and western Russia, forcing the closure of major airports and a main road into the capital, officials said.
According to Russian sources, Ukraine has launched swarms of attack drones. At least 20 have been destroyed over the Moscow region and another 124 in eight other regions.
One woman was killed in the capital and dozens of homes were destroyed, authorities said.
As Putin's forces advance in eastern Ukraine, Kiev attempts to expand the war into Russia with a surprise attack on the western Kursk region on August 6 and escalating drone strikes deep inside Russian territory.
Russian drone and missile attacks injured at least three people, damaged buildings and sparked fires across Ukraine overnight, authorities said today.
According to reports, the air force shot down 38 of 46 drones launched by Russia during a night raid in 13 regions.
