US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Kiev for talks with Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko. The visit comes amid mounting calls in the US to provide Ukraine with lethal weapons.
Kerry has brought with him an offer of $16.4 million in humanitarian aid, according to US officials. But the possibility is high of arms supplies being part of the Kerry and Poroshenko meeting agenda, as it’s something the Ukrainian president has been vigorously calling for.
“The escalation of the conflict that’s happening today, the increasing number of civilian casualties… should move the alliance to provide Ukraine with more support,” Poroshenko told German newspaper Die Welt, as cited by AP.
“(That) includes, among other things, delivering modern weapons for protection and for resisting the aggressor.”
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President Barack Obama’s pick for defense secretary, Ashton Carter, said on Wednesday he was in favor of sending weapons to Ukraine.
“The nature of those arms, I can’t say right now,” he said. “But I incline in the direction of providing them with arms, including, to get to what I’m sure your question is, lethal arms.”
Read More: Kerry arrives in Kiev, as US ponders sending weapons to Ukraine
