QUICK READ April 25: US Secretary of Defense and State is in Kiev

People in Mariupol receive cakes and apples on April 24 – Photo: REUTERS

* Late on April 24, morning on May 25, Vietnam time, Mr. Oleksiy Arestovych, adviser to the President Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, confirmed Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of the United States have arrived in Kiev and are meeting with Mr. Zelensky.

The meeting “is happening right now. They are talking to the president. Maybe they can help,” Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.

Blinken and Austin are the highest-ranking US officials to visit Ukraine since Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24. April 24th marks 2 months of this campaign.

Earlier, Mr. Zelensky’s assistant Igor Zhovkva said on Radio NBC News that Ukrainian officials in meeting with Mr. Austin and Antony will call on the US to provide more weapons, including anti-missile systems, anti-aircraft, armored vehicles, tanks.

The Ukrainian president also hopes that the meeting with the two US officials will give Kiev more weapons and security guarantees. “You can’t come empty-handed and we expect gifts not just cakes, we expect specific things, specific weapons,” Zelensky said.

*White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said more announcements about US assistance to Ukraine were expected “within the next week”. “We’ve announced what we can deliver, a fancy word for what we’re providing Ukraine, to support them in their daily, weekly combat, and we’ll have more to talk about in the next week,” Finer said on NBC.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Washington on April 22 – Photo: REUTERS

* The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) data shows that nearly 5.2 million Ukrainians have left the country, of which 3.2 million people left in March 2022 alone. In addition, the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that more than 7.7 million people in Ukraine have been displaced.

* Ukraine proposed New round of talks with Russia at location near Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol.

“We invite Russia to hold a special round of negotiations at the location right next to the Azovstal plant,” Zelensky’s adviser Oleksiy Arestovych was quoted as saying by AFP news agency. Earlier, the Kiev side proposed a ceasefire and opening a humanitarian corridor in Mariupol, which Russia claims to have “liberated”. Mr. Arestovych said the round of talks was aimed at discussing a ceasefire, opening a humanitarian corridor and exchanging prisoners.

On April 24, Zelensky’s other adviser, Mikhaylo Podolyak, said Russia repeatedly attacked the Azovstal factory. This factory is considered a stronghold of the resistance of Ukrainian forces in Maiurpol. After declaring the “liberation” of this city, Russian President Vladimir Putin asked not to attack but continue to lay siege to the Azovstal factory.

The wreck of a Russian tank in the Kiev area – Photo: AFP

*Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan called Zelensky to discuss the situation in Mariupol April 24 Mr. Zelensky said he discussed the need to evacuate people in Mariupol immediately. Erdogan’s office said that Turkey was ready to assist in negotiations between Russia and Ukraine.

*Reported by Reuters news agency The US central bank has frozen the accounts of the US diplomatic mission in New York.

Russian Ambassador Anatoliy Antonov in New York said the bank had “locked down” the activities of the embassy. “In essence, the embassy is blocked by US government organizations. The accounts of our two consulates in Houston and New York have been closed by the US Central Bank,” Antonov said on Rossiya TV channel. -first.

According to Russian media, the country’s embassy in New York is currently unable to make payments, the staff is limited in work and cannot store cash.