US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a press conference at the Latvian National Museum of Art in Rig
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that 70% of the additional $350 million in defense support to Ukraine that President Joe Biden authorized in recent weeks “is already in the hands of Ukrainians, being used very effectively against Russian aggression.”
Speaking at a news conference in Latvia, Blinken said he expected $10 billion in emergency aid to be provided by the US Congress “very quickly,” and said such aid will go to “additional security assistance,” “humanitarian assistance for Ukraine both inside Ukraine and outside,” and “to further efforts to reinforce NATO's eastern flank.”
The top US diplomat reiterated that the US believes a no-fly zone has the potential to widen the conflict.
“Our efforts are all in the direction of ending this war as quickly as possible, ending the suffering as quickly as possible. And what we don't want to do is to widen it, and to widen it to our own countries, to our own territory. The no-fly zone, to be very clear about what that involves is, that means that if Russian planes violate the zone that's declared, we shoot them down. And that runs the considerable risk of creating a direct conflict between our countries and Russia and thus a wider war, which is in no one's interest, including the Ukrainian people,” Blinken said.
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