US State Secretary pledges to strengthen Ukraine support before Trump's inauguration

At a meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in Brussels, Biden also said that sending North Korean troops to help Russia in the war in Ukraine would receive a “firm response.”

Blinken said that at a meeting with Rutte at NATO headquarters, they discussed support for Ukraine, where Russian troops are making progress on the eastern front line, as well as the work that NATO needs to do to strengthen its defense industrial base.

According to him, the outgoing US administration “continue to shore up everything we're doing for Ukraine.”

President Biden intends to "use every day to continue to do what we have done these last four years, which is strengthen this alliance,” Blinken said.

According to him, the deployment of North Korean troops to support Russia in the conflict “demands and will get a firm response.”

Rutte said that “Russia has not won” in Ukraine, which it invaded in February 2022. “Obviously we have to do more to make sure that Ukraine can stay in the fight and is able to roll back as much as possible the Russian onslaught and prevent (President Vladimir) Putin from being successful in Ukraine,” he said.

According to the State Department's schedule, Blinken is expected to meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha. In Brussels, he will also meet with Supreme Allied Commander Europe, General Christopher Cavoli, senior EU officials, and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

President-elect Trump has previously criticized US military support for Ukraine and said he would end the war quickly, without saying how raising fears among US allies that he might try to force Kyiv to accept peace on Moscow's terms. Biden leaves office on January 20.

According to the Pentagon, a little over $9 billion of the funds allocated by Congress for military aid to Ukraine remain.