Blinken in Kyiv tries to rally sagging Ukrainian spirits as Russia makes new military gains

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sought Tuesday to rally the spirits of glum Ukrainians facing a fierce new Russian offensive, assuring them that they are not alone and that billions of dollars in American military aid on its way to the country would make a “real difference” on the battlefield.

After a day of meetings with senior officials, civil society figures and university students during which he exhorted them against being discouraged, Blinken took to the stage at a Kyiv bar to play rhythm guitar with a local band on Neil Young’s 1989 hit “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

Earlier on his unannounced visit to Kyiv, Blinken told Ukrainian leaders that despite a monthslong delay in U.S. assistance that left them vulnerable to renewed Russian military strikes more weaponry is coming and some has already arrived.

He made the case even as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to him personally for more air defense systems to protect civilians under intense Russian fire in the northeast. Blinken also lambasted Russian President Vladimir Putin for underestimating Ukraine’s determination to fight back.

“We meet at a critical moment,” he told students at the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute. “The coming weeks and months will demand a great deal of Ukrainians, who have already sacrificed so much. I’ve come to Ukraine with a message: You are not alone.”

<bsp-list-loadmore data-module="" class=«PageListStandardB» data-gtm-region=«RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR» data-gtm-topic=«No Value» data-gtm-modulestyle=«List B»> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR </bsp-custom-headline> <bsp-custom-headline custom-headline=«div»> A Kremlin shake-up of Russia’s Defense Ministry comes at a key moment in