Secretary Antony J. Blinken And Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Before Their Meeting

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  (In progress.)  Dmytro and I have basically been spending the day together in one way or another.  We just came from the panel discussion.  But what I can report is that from the meetings that we’ve had here over the last 24 hours with so many different countries, the solidarity with and support for Ukraine remains stronger than ever, and there is a great determination from virtually all of the countries represented here to continue that support for as long as it takes for Ukraine to succeed and to continue to stand against this Russian aggression.  We have a big week, of course, coming up as well in New York, marking the first anniversary of the Russian aggression, and so we’ll be heading there later next week.

But meanwhile, we’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing all along virtually every day, which is coordinating as closely as possible in the support that we’re providing to Ukraine – security support, economic support, humanitarian support – and we’re doing it in close partnership.  And so this is an opportunity for me – not that we need that opportunity because we’re constantly on the phone, we’re seeing each other – but another important opportunity to make sure that we are fully synced up about the way ahead.

Dmytro.

FOREIGN MINISTER KULEBA:  Yes.  There is, as always, a lot on our plate.  And first of all, we – we’ve been talking about 2023.  In 2022, many unbelievably important and unprecedented decisions were made, including on the – on providing Ukraine with necessary weapons.  Now we are preparing to go into the battle with everything that we need to liberate our territory and prevail, and therefore, key words for this year, 2023, is speed and sustainability – speed of delivery and sustainability of supply.

These are the things where – these are the issues on which cooperation with the United States becomes absolutely indispensable.  And Tony and I will work – we’ll coordinate these issues effectively.  And also, as we’re heading towards the first sad, tragic anniversary of the large-scale invasion, we should never forget that the work began in 2014, but the full invasion in 2023.

We also – we will also be discussing our reach-out to countries of Global South and the mobilization of support for the United Nations and other multilateral formats.

SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Thank you, my friend.  Thanks, everyone.