U.S. Secretary of State Blinken to meet with Ukraine’s FM Kuleba in Brussels

“NATO will hold a NATO-Ukraine council meeting on Tuesday.  The North Atlantic Council permanent representatives will host the foreign minister of Ukraine [Dmytro Kuleba], and they will be able to reiterate there that we need to see restraint and refraining from escalatory actions,” European and Eurasian Affairs Acting Assistant Secretary of State Philip Reeker said at a briefing on April 12.

He noted that the United States commended Ukraine for its ongoing restraint in the face of Russia’s provocations. Reeker added that Russia’s actions destabilized the situation and had undermined the tenuous ceasefire agreement that was brokered by the OSCE back in July of 2020.  “At the same time, Russia has had a disinformation campaign blatantly designed to falsely blame Ukraine for what are the Kremlin’s own actions.  So we’re monitoring the situation closely, coordinating with Ukrainian officials, with allies and partners,” the European and Eurasian Affairs Acting Assistant Secretary said.

He stressed that the American side called on Moscow to stop the escalation immediately. In Brussels, further steps will be discussed with allies and partners.

“We will continue to use this opportunity to discuss with allies what we see,” Reeker noted.

At the same time, he stressed that “the foreign minister [of Ukraine] will be at NATO himself, and the Secretary [Blinken] should have an opportunity to see him.” In this context, the representative of the U.S. Department of State noted that bilateral talks could take place later, after the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting in Brussels.

As reported, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left for Brussels where he will take part in NATO consultations and hold bilateral and multilateral meetings. U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also plans to visit NATO Headquarters this week.

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