Russia must pay for Ukraine rebuild, Blinken says
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin must pay to rebuild what he has destroyed in Ukraine, per BBC.
Speaking in Kyiv, Mr Blinken said Washington has the power to seize Russian assets in the US and will use them to help rebuild Ukraine.
He also said that Ukraine is getting "closer to Nato".
Earlier, the top US diplomat told Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that military aid is "now on its way".
"What Putin destroyed, Russia should - must - pay to rebuild. It's what international law demands. And it's what the Ukrainian people deserve," Mr Blinken said during his speech at Kyiv Polytechnic University.
"Our Congress has given us the power to seize Russian assets in the US, and we intend to use it," he said.
He added that the G7 group - the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US - can unlock billions of dollars, "and send a powerful message to Putin that time is not on his side".
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Russian state assets in the EU estimated to be worth almost €211 billion have been frozen.
Mr Blinken landed in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday after a nine-hour journey via sleeper train from the Polish border.
His visit comes as the country struggles to hold back a major Russian incursion near its second-biggest city of Kharkiv.
Blinken sought to reassure Ukrainians with a direct-to-camera message: "You are not alone. We are with you today and we will stay by your side".
During Mr Blinken's meeting with President Zelenskyy, he paid tribute to Ukraine's "extraordinary resilience" and to the Ukrainian president's "strength and leadership".
He acknowledged that it was a "challenging time" but that the US assistance was "on the way", which he said would make a crucial difference on the battlefield.
editor@caliber.az
+994 55 444-88-98
Азербайджан, Баку, ул. Низами, 203, Af Business House, 5-й этаж