It's the G20, the world's 20 largest economies. The first stop is New Delhi, which is not just a Biden visit. INSKEEP: So you'll be traveling along with the president. Good morning.ĪSMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning, Steve. INSKEEP: NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid is with us. He wants developing nations to more easily find investment and credit without turning to China.
And Biden will be there in part to focus on countering China's influence. They also have two rising economies at a moment when China's economy is struggling. He'll be traveling Thursday, going to India, and then on to Vietnam.įADEL: Now, both of these countries are China's neighbors. INSKEEP: As his secretary of state is in Ukraine, President Biden heads to Asia this week. General Assembly meeting, where he's expected to make the case for that support for Ukraine to continue. Ukrainian media have reported that President Zelenskyy is expected to travel to New York later this month for the U.N. Ukraine also has a problem with manpower, but Kyiv obviously has much broader international support. A British intelligence report, Steve, this week found Russia's army is now trying to recruit men from neighboring countries to fight. They've lost a lot of soldiers, and a lot of their best weapons have been used up. And we have seen signs that Russia's military continues to struggle. MANN: The State Department official who briefed reporters described Putin's effort as scrounging for equipment and said this is another sign of Russia's desperation. INSKEEP: Brian, can you tell us about a development on the other end of Eurasia? We are following these reports that North Korea's leader will get on a train, leave his country for a summit, a meeting where he'll have a chance to talk face to face with Vladimir Putin. Once the autumn rains set in in the next few weeks, this battlefield is going to turn to mud, and that'll make movement even harder. One thing, though - the clock is ticking here. Ukrainians hope that if they can breach these lines, it'll create a bigger opening for them to move more quickly using those Western tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles we've been hearing about. A Ukrainian officer I spoke to was candid, Steve, about how harrowing this is. They're right now trying to breach the next line of defenses around a town called Verbove. Ukraine appears to have really pushed through the toughest line of Russian minefields, trenches and artillery batteries. MANN: Well, they do talk about progress around Robotyne in the south.
INSKEEP: Well, why don't you give us our own assessment here? What are you hearing from soldiers and military analysts in Ukraine? And he'll meet with President Zelenskyy today, who, in fact, is just back in Kyiv after heading to the front lines and meeting with soldiers in the south and east. So the State Department official told reporters another goal of this visit will be for Blinken to get a really accurate assessment of what's happening on the ground. They say they are gaining ground in the face of really strong Russian defenses. Ukrainian officials here have pushed back on that. Some critics, Steve, say that Ukraine spread their forces too thin, attacking in too many areas along the front line. That includes punching through to Melitopol, a city on the Sea of Azov, as part of an effort to divide Russia's army and cut off their supply lines. intelligence analysis that it predicted Ukraine likely won't reach its objectives this summer. You know, The Washington Post reported on a U.S. INSKEEP: Are they entirely aligned, though, given some of the tensions around the pace of this counteroffensive? also wants to show they're aligned with Ukraine as this war now heads into the fall and winter. That includes military, financial and humanitarian aid. A senior State Department official says Blinken will deliver roughly another billion dollars in new U.S. Some of that support's going to be tangible. MANN: Well, his big goal is to signal Washington's support for Ukraine, despite questions about the pace of this counteroffensive and the huge cost. Look south on the map from Kyiv, and you'd see the area where Ukrainian troops are struggling forward in a U.S.-backed counteroffensive. Shortly before he arrived, Russian cruise missiles targeted the city, though Ukraine says it shot them down. He laid a wreath at a cemetery honoring Ukrainian soldiers lost in Ukraine's war.Īnd it's a war that continues. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Kyiv this morning.
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