Blinken pledges further $90 million for demining efforts in Ukraine
Kyiv, Sep 7 (EFE).- The United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the northern Ukrainian province of Chernobyl on Thursday where he visited a demining center and pledged an additional $90 million in aid for those efforts.
The US official was on his second and final day of an unannounced trip to Ukraine to discuss Kyiv’s counteroffensive and Washington’s latest military aid package.
“Though the overall effort will take years, courageous Ukrainians are working now to clear their roads, parks, and playgrounds from mines and unexploded ordinances,” Blinken said in a statement.
“The United States is supporting their efforts with $90.5 million in additional demining assistance,” Blinken added in a footage that was broadcast on Ukrainian television.
“We admire what you are doing,” he told a demining team equipped with Swiss Foundation for Mine Clearance (FSD) vests.
He also visited a state border guard facility on the fringes of Kyiv “to see how they continue to protect Ukraine’s territory and people,” Blinken said on X, formerly Twitter.
“We are providing $300 million in new funding to Ukraine’s law enforcement sector to continue this important work. The United States remains united with Ukraine,” he added.
The latest funding stream to Ukraine is part of a broader package worth over $1 billion that was announced Wednesday after Blinken met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
The US will also send an additional $206 million in “humanitarian assistance” to assist with access to food, water and housing for victims of Russia’s invasion.
A further $203 million will go “for support to transparency and accountability of institutions, bolstering key reform efforts related to anti-corruption, rule of law and the justice sector; and to build capacity to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by Russia,” the US State department said. EFE
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