Tom Bateman
BBC News, travelling with Antony Blinken

Image source, bbc

Blinken has just walked through central Kyiv, taking a stop at the Maidan Nezalezhnosti - or Independence Square - where he paused to look at a huge tribute to fallen soldiers made up of Ukrainian flags.

He was accompanied by the US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink. They were surrounded by Blinken’s staff, US Diplomatic Security Service special agents and Ukrainian soldiers in balaclavas holding rifles.

The huge entourage, swarmed by local and travelling press, took around five minutes to do the walk.

Passers by and members of the public tried to peer into the entourage, some filming the spectacle, others wondering what was going on.

The secretary’s walk took him from his lunch venue - Veterano pizza - to a local coffee shop where he is now meeting Ukrainian anti-corruption campaigners.

There, he likened the fight against corruption “at home” to the fight against “Russian aggression on the front line”.

He said: “Just as extraordinarily brave Ukrainians are fighting on the front lines now against Russian aggression, so too we have courageous people who are themselves taking action to put a spotlight on corruption - to make sure that Ukraine develops the strongest possible democracy.”

Residents in Ukraine's eastern front line town Vovchansk are being evacuated to Kharkiv due to Russian military strikes.

Earlier, Russia said its forces had entered Vovchansk but Ukraine's military later said the situation was under control, but it had to withdraw to new positions near the village of Lukyantsi due to heavy Russian air strikes.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Russia's Ministry of Defence says it has captured the town of Buhruvatka in the Kharkiv region, which is currently under siege from Russian troops.

Russian military says its troops had "advanced deep into the enemy defence", in an update on the Telegram messaging app.

The BBC has not independently verified these claims.

It comes after Russia said its forces had entered the north-eastern border town of Vovchansk near Ukraine's second largest city of Kharkiv but Ukraine's military said it had "pushed the enemy back" from the northern outskirts of the town.

Image source, Getty Images

China's state media has confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to the country this week - on 16 and 17 May.

He last visited in October 2023 and this will be his first foreign trip since his re-election in March. It comes at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

China has become an increasingly important economic ally since countries in the West hit Russia with a wide range of sanctions.

The US has accused China of supplying Russia with items used in its assault on Ukraine.

Its top diplomat - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken - said recently that it would act if China did not stop such supplies, although he did not say what measures the US was prepared to take.

China was, he said, "helping fuel the biggest threat" to European security since the Cold War.

Tom Bateman
BBC News, travelling with Antony Blinken

Image source, Getty Images

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has just arrived for a working lunch with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

The two men made their way into a small pizza restaurant- “Veterano Pizza” - in central Kyiv, filmed by local media as well as us in the travelling press pool.

The restaurant, which features a glass table top filled with empty bullet casings, was opened by a Ukrainian army veteran, Leonid Ostaltsev, who served in the Donbas in 2014 as part of the 30th separate mechanised brigade.

He staffs the pizzeria with Ukrainian military veterans who regularly deliver free pizza to hospitals where veterans undergo treatment.

Image source, Getty Images

We've just seen some comments from US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller about Antony Binken's meeting with President Zelensky earlier.

The pair "discussed recent battlefield updates and the importance of newly-arrived US security assistance to helping repel Russian attacks", Miller says.

They also discussed "long-term security arrangements and ongoing work to ensure Ukraine can thrive economically", he adds.

Miller goes on to say that Blinken reiterated the United States’ "enduring support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity and our commitment to Ukraine’s recovery".

Earlier we reported that Blinken told Zelensky that military aid was "now on its way" during his surprise visit to Kyiv. You can read our correspondent Tom Bateman's dispatch from that meeting here.

Image source, Reuters

Dmytro Hurin, an IT specialist from Kharkiv, says he's heard fighter jets dropping bombs not far from his home in the north-eastern border town.

"It's really dangerous because you do not know where the rocket hit," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme earlier.

Asked if he is thinking of leaving Kharkiv, given the increased danger, he says no.

"This is our city. This is our land. We want to fight them." However, he adds that it's a "very difficult decision" to stay.

Hurin says people in Kharkiv are waiting to see the impact of the latest US aid package, which they hope will "help to win this awful war".

A timely visit in a perilous period for Ukrainepublished at 11:11 British Summer Time 14 May

11:11 BST 14 May

James Waterhouse
Ukraine correspondent in Kyiv

Diplomatic visits by Ukraine’s biggest military backer are crucial for its continued war effort.

While the speed of the delivery of American ammunition and weapons will be high on the agenda for this meeting between Antony Blinken and the Ukrainian government, it’s only one of Kyiv’s mounting problems.

The situation on the front line has dramatically turned from a relative stalemate to a major Russian offensive in one short week.

Ukraine has moved what few reserve troops it has to try and contain a new Russian offensive in the north-east. So far, they are struggling.

Fifty square miles of once-liberated territory has been lost so far with more than 30,000 Russian personnel having joined the attack.

Almost 7,000 people have been evacuated from the Kharkiv region close to the border. More rescue operations are planned for 115 settlements in the Sumy region further north.

These figures tell you how quickly the dimension of this invasion is changing - in Russia’s favour.

Image source, .

Weapons from a new US aid package for Ukraine have begun arriving on the front line.

After a year of political stalemate in the US, President Joe Biden approved military support worth almost $61bn (£49bn) in April.

At least $8bn (£6.5bn) of that will be used to re-supply Ukraine with missiles and ammunition.

In February 2024, the EU agreed a further €50bn (£42bn; $54bn) aid package for Ukraine, after Hungary stopped blocking the deal.

In terms of how much aid has already been supplied, between February 2022 and February 2024, the US delivered or committed weapons and equipment worth $46.2bn to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute, a German research organisation, external.

Germany gave Ukraine weapons and equipment worth $10.7bn, the UK $5.7bn, Denmark $5.2bn, and the Netherlands $4.1bn.

• You can read a full explainer on the weapons being supplied to Ukraine here

Image source, .

Tom Bateman
BBC News, travelling with Antony Blinken

The US secretary of state, his staff and the travelling press pool boarded a four-carriage, overnight sleeper train from the Polish border overnight.

The train trundled through western Ukraine via Lviv during the night and took nine and half hours.

Due to strict security measures, we couldn’t get off at any point and Blinken remained with his staff and security teams in his own carriage separated from the travelling press.

We arrived in Kyiv just after dawn. It was a very low-key arrival, with the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, among the officials who greeted him on the platform.

As Blinken arrived he told the delegation it was “wonderful to be back”. Asked how his trip was, he replied: “Very smooth. I’m used to the train, I’m building up my miles.”

We then boarded the motorcade into the city ahead of his meeting with President Zelensky.

A little earlier, Antony Blinken met President Zelensky in Kyiv as part of his unannounced visit to Ukraine.

The US secretary of state said some help from a recent US aid package has already arrived in the country, and the rest of it was on the way.

You can watch some of that interaction below:

Chris Partridge
BBC News weapons analyst

Image source, Getty Images

The US weapons going to Ukraine are part of a package recently authorised under what's called Presidential Drawdown Authority - which allows delivery as quickly as possible from Department of Defense stocks.

Included are much-needed missiles for air defences, such as advanced surface-to-air missile systems, and shoulder-launched Stingers.

These will help continue to counter the Russian low-level attack threat from cruise missiles, Shahed drones and jets dropping the increasingly problematic precision-guided glide bombs - Russia's equivalent of the US-made JDAM, a guidance kit that converts existing unguided bombs into precision-guided 'smart' munitions.

On the ground, there are more munitions for units using Himars missiles. This high-mobile platform fires guided rockets up to 80km. Alongside this is the tracked version, MLRS, which has the same missile range.

The much talked-about ATACMS long-range missiles are getting to where the Ukrainians need them, giving Kyiv the ability to strike ground targets up to 300km away - deep into Crimea, for example.

Also being delivered are bread-and-butter 155mm shells for M777 Howitzers. Ukraine - at peak use - gets through up to 180,000 of these shells a month, so continuously feeding the Howitzers will be vital for the frontline.

You can read more here about what weaponry has been supplied to Ukraine by various countries.

Image source, Reuters

During their meeting in Kyiv, Antony Blinken tells President Zelensky that US military aid is "now on its way", with some already arrived and more to come.

He adds that it will "make a real difference" to the ongoing Russian aggression.

"We're determined, along with many other partners for Ukraine, to make sure that you succeed on the battlefield," he says.

Tom Bateman
BBC News, travelling with Antony Blinken

Image source, Pool

Secretary Blinken is now meeting Volodymyr Zelensky at the presidential headquarters, the Bankova, in Kyiv.

The two delegations entered the gilded meeting room and beneath chandeliers the two men sat at the table, giving brief remarks while the press were still in the room.

Zelensky said it had been a “tough period” for Ukrainian “warriors”, especially in the east of the country. He thanked Blinken for the “crucial package” of military assistance passed last month by Congress, highlighting the “bipartisan support” it received.

“A big appreciation from Ukrainians to Americans for this,” said the president.

He added that it was crucial to get the weapons delivered as quickly as possible.

He went on to speak about Ukraine’s outstanding needs, saying air defence was the “biggest deficit”, and that Kharkiv needed more air defences.

Blinken paid tribute to Ukraine’s “extraordinary resilience” and to Zelensky’s “strength and leadership”. He acknowledged that it was a “challenging time” but that the US assistance was “on the way”, which he said would make a crucial difference on the battlefield.

Blinken said a strong, free and thriving Ukraine was the strongest “rebuke to Putin”.

Image source, Pool

We're now hearing that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky are meeting in Kyiv.

Today's trip marks the fourth time the top US diplomat has visited Ukraine since Russia's February 2022 invasion.

Earlier, a senior US official travelling with Blinken told reporters that the aim of this visit "is to send a strong signal of reassurance to the Ukrainians who are obviously in a very difficult moment both with grinding battle on the eastern front but also with the Russians now expanding some cross-border attacks into Kharkiv".

The official added that Blinken intends to detail how US aid will "be executed in a fashion to help shore up their defences and enable them to increasingly take back the initiative on the battlefield".

We'll bring you what we hear from Blinken and Zelensky's meeting shortly.

The UK defence secretary is asked by the BBC Radio 4's Today programme what the overall aim is in Ukraine and if it includes the defeat of Russia and the deposing of President Putin.

Grant Shapps replies: "It is essential that Putin does not win that war. The question now is what does that mean? I don't think an aggressor should be rewarded and in the end it is up to Ukraine to decide if they are prepared to have a settlement."

Shapps then raises the hypothetical question about what would happen if the UK was invaded and Kent occupied.

"Would we go, oh it is time to settle. I don't think that would ever be the case and I think it is right that we provide both the military assistance and the moral clarity that it is always unacceptable for an autocrat to walk into a neighbouring democratic country and take a chunk of it for themselves."

Grant Shapps is next asked about comments earlier from the former Nato Deputy Supreme Commander for Europe who discussed the need for a "fundamental shift" within the West to not only give Ukraine enough to defend but to defeat.

The UK defence secretary says he agrees, adding that if everyone stepped up it would be a fraction of defence spending overall.

He thinks it is a "question of political will", saying it would be a lot cheaper, and the right thing to do, to defend and therefore deter Putin here and now rather than to allow him to win.

We're hearing again from UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who tells BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov yesterday to discuss Kharkiv, which is currently under siege from Russian forces.

Shapps says things are "very delicate" and that the world was "caught napping".

He says that on his last visit to Ukraine, he stood in Kyiv and said "this is a wake up call" because of delays in getting Ukraine the aid it needed.

He adds that he's received thanks from President Zelensky and many other people in Ukraine, who say Ukraine "probably wouldn't be in this war today" without the UK's "consistent" support.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron said earlier this month that the UK would provide £3bn ($3.75bn) per year for as long as necessary to Ukraine.

He also said that it was up to Ukraine to decide how to use British weapons. Speaking on 3 May after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, he insisted that the country had the right to strike targets on Russian territory.

Among the UK weaponry being supplied are Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have a range of over 250km (155 miles), according to the manufacturer.

By contrast, the US-supplied Himars missiles used by Ukraine only have a range of around 80 km (50 miles).

Image source, UK MoD/Crown Copyright

While we were hearing from Grant Shapps, General Sir Richard Shirreff, former Nato Deputy Supreme Commander for Europe, has been speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He says a "fundamental shift" is needed in the West's strategy for supporting Ukraine because the country's allies "haven't sufficiently stepped up".

Until the arrival of the recent US package, Ukraine has been "on the back foot", he says. But even if US aid had arrived faster, Shirreff argues that the strategy of giving Ukraine "only enough to defend itself" isn't going to work.

Western allies need to give Kyiv "the capabilities to defeat Russia in Ukraine," he says. "The best form of defence is attack."