Blinken and Lammy's historic visit: Kyiv talks pivotal for Ukraine
Antony Blinken and David Lammy, the heads of diplomacy for the USA and the UK, have arrived in Kyiv. "The first joint visit of this kind for well over a decade," Lammy commented, previewing the visit.
Blinken and Lammy announced their joint visit plans to Ukraine on Tuesday at a press conference in London. "Today, I can confirm that Tony and I will be traveling to Kyiv this week, the first joint visit of this kind for well over a decade," Lammy stated.
Blinken noted that the visit will come at a crucial moment for Ukraine, in the middle of an intense autumn war season, with increasing bombings of Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure.
Key talks
He announced that along with Lammy, he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will discuss what Ukraine needs most and its integration with NATO and the EU.
He admitted that he expects the topic to be the possible loosening of restrictions on the use of long-range American and British weapons against targets in Russia.
"We will be listening intently to our Ukrainian partners, we will both be reporting back to the prime minister, to President Biden in the coming days, and I fully anticipate this is something they will take up when they meet on Friday," Blinken said, referring to the British Prime Minister's visit to the White House on Friday at 19:00 GMT.
