Blinken wraps up European tour amid arms requests from Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is wrapping up a three-nation, Ukraine-focused European tour in Poland after hearing repeated appeals from Ukrainian officials to use Western-supplied weaponry for long-range strikes inside Russia.

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Blinken travelled to Warsaw on Thursday after spending a day in Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during which they pledged to bring the Ukrainian requests to their leaders.

President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer are to meet in the United States on Friday amid signs both Washington and London are growing more receptive to allowing the Ukrainians to use their arms to hit targets farther inside Russia than previously okayed. NATO member Poland, which shares a border with Ukraine, has been supportive of the Ukrainians and Blinken is likely to hear further requests for easing weapons-use restrictions from Polish President Andrzej Duda, Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski.

On Wednesday, Blinken and Lammy announced that the United States and Britain had pledged nearly $1.5 billion in additional aid to Ukraine during their visit to Kyiv. Blinken announced more than $700 million in humanitarian aid, while Lammy confirmed that his country would provide another $782 million in assistance and loan guarantees.

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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed a Chinese-Brazilian peace initiative for the war in Ukraine as “destructive”, and complained that Kyiv had not been involved in the process. “The Chinese-Brazilian proposal is ... destructive, it’s just a political statement,” Zelenskyy said.