US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a meeting in Kyiv. Archival photoMOSCOW, 26 Apr. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took Washington by surprise by telling reporters about the visit to Kyiv of US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, although they arrived in the country in conditions of strict secrecy, NBC reports, citing officials.According to media reports , at first the politicians secretly flew to Poland on different planes, after which they went by train to the Ukrainian capital. The White House administration refused to confirm this information until officials safely left the country. It is noted that the final decision on the visit of Austin and Blinken had to be made «at the last minute after assessing the level of security.» On Sunday, the US Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense visited Kyiv , where they announced the gradual return of American diplomats to Ukraine. In addition, they announced the provision of more than $700 million in direct and indirect military supplies to Kiev. the trip was the first visit by high-ranking American representatives to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's special military operation to denazify and demilitarize the country. Russia launched a special operation in Ukraine on February 24. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine.»
