Blinken to visit Kyiv amid US-Russia tension

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Ukraine this week as tensions between the U.S. and Russia escalate over a possible Russian invasion of its neighbor, the State Department said Tuesday.

Blinken will be in Kyiv on Tuesday on a hastily arranged trip to show U.S. support following inconclusive diplomatic talks between Moscow and the West in Europe last week that failed to resolve stark disagreements over Ukraine and other security matters. Instead, those meetings appear to have increased fears of a Russian invasion, and the Biden administration has accused Russia of preparing a “false flag operation” to use as a pretext for intervention. Russia has angrily denied the charge. From Kyiv, Blinken will travel on Thursday to Berlin, where he will meet with his German, British and French counterparts to discuss a possible response to any Russian military action. Blinken will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Wednesday. —AP