Blinken & Austin Hold In-Person Meeting With Zelensky, Pledging More Aid, Training

LOCAL NEWS

• US Sec of State Blinken & Sec of Defense Austin met with Zelensky yesterday in Ukraine for the first in-person high-level meeting since the crisis began in February – promising military and diplomatic support for Ukraine.
  • $713m in military financing for Ukraine & other regional partners, including assistance to transition to more modern NATO weapons systems and training for new heavy artillery being sent to Ukraine. Austin assured that there was no official involvement from US forces, however - NBC , bbg
• Overnight reports emerged of potential Ukrainian missile strikes against the Bryansk fuel depot – a logistics hub within Russian territory. Russia also reported on Saturday that the city of Belogrod was targeted by shelling, but no casualties were reported.
  • The assault on the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol also resumed over the weekend, despite Putin’s orders to cancel further action there to target the final pocket of Ukrainian resistance.
  • However, rumours suggest that most of these forces are being relocated to the Donbas region as the conflict intensifies in the region. – Tass, Sky, Al Jazeera
• Russian insiders report following conversations with Putin that the leader is ‘no longer interested in diplomatic efforts to resolve the conflict and wants to seize as much Ukrainian land as possible.’
  • Noted last month he had shown interest in a peace deal, but that this sentiment has been replaced by the belief that talks are at a dead end. - Sky
• UN Chief Gutierres set to meet with Putin for the first face-to-face meeting on Tuesday. He will also meet with Lavrov, and potentially Zelensky in the following days – bbg
• Defence Analyst warns that the situation is becoming more worrying for Moldova following worrying comments from Putin after he made claims of genocide and discrimination in Transnistria – the ploy used to justify the invasion of Ukraine. – Sky