Blinken offers new US aid as Kyiv reels from renewed Russian attacks

FILE PHOTO: Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky greets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken prior to their meeting in Kyiv on May 14, 2024. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

KYIV (Reuters) -U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday announced a $2 billion fund to help Ukraine build up its defense industrial base, as he concluded a two-day visit aimed at reassuring the country reeling after Russia opened up a new front in its war last week.

Blinken said the United States was working to quickly get more ammunition and weapons to the front lines to help Ukrainian forces fight a new Russian ground incursion into the northeastern Kharkiv region, which provided a gloomy backdrop to his fourth visit to Kyiv since Russia's February 2022 full-scale invasion.