Blinken Set To Meet In Washington With Ukrainian FM Kuleba On November 10

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will meet next week with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Washington, the State Department said.

Spokesman Ned Price said on November 4 that the meeting will take place on November 10 as Blinken hosts the U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership Commission.

“The U.S.-Ukraine Strategic Partnership Commission began in 2008 and has been an important mechanism for the United States and Ukraine to communicate and collaborate on shared priorities across a broad range of issues,” Price said in a press briefing.

“Thirteen years later, the U.S.-Ukraine bilateral relationship has strengthened and matured, resulting in the need to refresh the charter to address the challenges of the 21st century and to reflect the elevated bilateral partnership we have with Ukraine.”

Price said the meeting and others similar to it are an “important opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to -- and support for -- Ukraine’s independence, its sovereignty, and its territorial integrity, including in the face of ongoing Russian aggression.”

Washington has provided diplomatic and political support and arms for Ukraine in its struggle against an increasingly aggressive Russian stance in the region.

The United States has at the same time pressed Kyiv on the importance of Ukrainian efforts to tackle corruption and carry out reforms.

“Ukraine is facing two challenges: aggression from outside, coming from Russia, and in effect aggression from within, coming from corruption, oligarchs and others who are putting their interests ahead of those of the Ukrainian people,” Blinken said during a trip to Ukraine in May.

Blinken at the time told Kuleba that Washington will "work with you and continue to strengthen your own democracy, building institutions, advancing your reforms against corruption."