After arriving in Kiev, Blinken laid a wreath at the city’s Berkovetske cemetery in memory of Ukrainian soldiers killed defending the country.
At a meeting, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Schmihal said Ukraine was grateful that the US money was coming in the form of grants, not loans that would put it in debt.
In other developments, Russia fired cruise missiles overnight at Kiev in its first airstrikes on the capital since 30 August, according to Serhiy Popko, head of Kiev’s regional military administration. Debris from the downed missile caused fires and damage but no casualties.
A Russian missile and drone attack on the port of Izmail killed one person in the Odessa region, damaging grain elevators, administrative buildings and agricultural enterprises, officials said.
It was Blinken’s fourth visit to Ukraine since the start of the war, including a brief visit to the Polish-Ukrainian border in March 2022, just a month after the Russian invasion. But it will be the first time a top US diplomat will spend the night in Kiev since January 2022, before the invasion, in what US officials have called another sign of US support.
Blinken’s visit comes after some of Ukraine’s allies privately expressed concern that Ukrainian troops may fail to reach their objectives.