US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. File photoWASHINGTON, Apr 28The administration's new request for additional support to Ukraine is already in Congress, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said. «I'm glad you have the additional request now. This is critical to support our efforts on a number of fronts,» Blinken said at a Senate committee hearing.The West staged a hellish carousel of arms supplies to Kyiv, Zakharova said. She emphasized that it was about supporting Ukraine in the field of security and helping allies who provided defense means for Kyiv, which now have to be replenished. According to Blinken, $15.5 billion is planned for defense assistance, and out of $8.5 billion in economic assistance, 7.5 billion will go to direct budgetary support for Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become legitimate target for Russia. The Foreign Ministry of the Russian Federation stated that the NATO countries are «playing with fire» by supplying weapons to Ukraine. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov noted that pumping Ukraine with weapons from the West does not contribute to the success of Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and will have a negative effect. >The West raises the bet on the defeat of RussiaRussia launched a military operation in Ukraine on February 24th. President Vladimir Putin called its goal «the protection of people who have been subjected to bullying and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.» For this, according to him, it is planned to carry out «demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine», to bring to justice all war criminals responsible for «bloody crimes against civilians» in Donbass. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Armed Forces strike only at military infrastructure and Ukrainian troops and , on March 25, completed the main tasks of the first stage — significantly reduced the combat potential of Ukraine. The main goal in the Russian military department was called the liberation of Donbass.
