The United States will support Ukraine until its security is “guaranteed” against Russia, it pledged today US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken during visiting Kiev, at a time when Ukraine faces a new Russian attack in its northeast.

In a speech at Kyiv’s Ihor Sikorsky Polytechnic Institute, Blinken admitted that the delay in US weapons made Ukraine more vulnerable to Russian attacks, but stressed that Kiev could count on Washington’s unwavering support as the American people understood that the Russia will not stop in Ukraine.

“Putin is stepping up another offensive against Ukraine in Kharkiv and the east, sending waves of Russian troops, Iranian drones, North Korean artillery and tanks, missiles and fighter jets built with machinery and parts supplied by China,” he said. Blinken.

“The United States has been on your side since day one” and “we will remain on your side until Ukraine’s security, sovereignty and ability to choose its own path are guaranteed,” Blinken said in a speech to students in the Ukrainian capital.

Blinken, who arrived in Kiev this morning on a surprise visit, promised during his meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that US aid was “on the way”. “Some (of aid) has already arrived, more (aid) will arrive” and “this will make a real difference on the battlefield,” assured the US Secretary of State.

Zelensky called for the speeding up of arms deliveries and also insisted on the need for his country to get more anti-aircraft defenses, asking for two Patriot surface-to-air missile arrays for the Kharkiv region, which has been hit in recent weeks by heavy shelling that has caused between other problems in the electricity supply.

Zelensky urges the West to speed up arms deliveries

For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky today asked Western allies to speed up promised arms deliveries as Kiev tries to fend off a new Russian offensive in northeastern Ukraine.

“We need deliveries to be significantly accelerated. Too much time passes today between the announcement of the aid packages and the actual presence of the weapons on the front line,” he said in his speech this evening, after meeting US foreign policy chief Anthony Blinken in Kiev.