Antony Blinken made the statement during a visit to Kyiv on Wednesday, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Blinken is the first senior US official to visit Kyiv since Ukraine launched a counteroffensive against Russia in early June, according to news outlets.
Before a meeting with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Blinken told reporters he was encouraged by the counteroffensive’s effects so far.
America’s top diplomat said: “Certainly we see the important progress that's being made now in the counteroffensive and that's very, very encouraging.”
He added: “We want to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs, not only to succeed in the counteroffensive, but has what it needs for the long term, to make sure that it has a strong deterrent."
Ukraine has retaken more than a dozen villages and small settlements in its offensive, but its push into Russian-held territory has been slowed by minefields and trenches, the Reuters news agency reported.
US officials last week said they had seen progress in the southeast, according to Reuters.
Earlier in the day, Blinken met with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal to discuss the protection of Kyiv’s energy infrastructure against possible Russian missile attacks, and with Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, news outlets reported.
Ahead of the meeting with Shmyhal, the US state secretary said he was visiting Ukraine “at the behest of President [Joe] Biden to reaffirm our commitment to stand with you – to stand with you to help ensure that you succeed militarily in dealing with the aggression, but also to stand with you to make sure that your efforts to build a strong economy and a strong democracy succeed.”
During his visit, Blinken was expected to announce a new package of US wartime assistance worth more than USD 1 billion, Reuters reported.
New defence minister for Ukraine
Meanwhile, Ukraine's parliament on Wednesday approved the appointment of former lawmaker Rustem Umerov as the country's new defence
minister to replace Oleksii Reznikov, Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform reported.
Russia strikes Ukraine’s Kostiantynivka, killing 17: officials
Blinken’s trip was overshadowed by a Russian attack on Wednesday that killed at least 17 people in the eastern city of Kostiantynivka, the Associated Press news agency reported.
Zelensky condemned the attack, which officials said hit a crowded market in Kostiantynivka, a city in the Donetsk region, close to the battlefield.
Zelensky said a child was among the dead, and officials said at least 32 people were hurt, Reuters reported.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, launching the largest military campaign in Europe since World War II.
Wednesday is day 560 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, Ukrinform, state.gov, AP