Making Nero Proud... Blinken Rocks Out In Kiev As Kharkiv Burns

 Update(1654ET): Antony Blinken decided that at the very moment things are at their most dire point for Ukraine's struggling armed forces in Kharkiv amid the new major Russian cross-border offensive, he would put on a concert featuring himself at a bar in Kiev.

It has resulted in near universal revilement, even among some of Ukraine's staunchest supporters.

Independent journalist Michael Tracey commented: 

Not only did Tony Blinken show up at a bar somewhere in Kyiv to play a rendition of Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World," State Department planners brought along C-SPAN to film the thing. The song is a pretty accurate distillation of Blinken's halfwit interventionist ideology

And yes it was actually covered on C-SPAN. 

Another observer reacted as follows: "I haven't seen a more cynical thing than Blinken having a good ol' jolly time in a Kiev bar, while the AFU is getting crushed nearly along the whole front line in a while. This is just morbid."

As yet, it's actually hard to find a single online example of someone praising Blinken's pop up show. One wonders what even his staff was thinking to allow this bizarre spectacle to go on... and all at the US taxpayer's expense to boot.

There's also some subtle irony concerning the song choice...

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Secretary of State Antony Blinken has made another trip to Ukraine, appearing in Kiev alongside Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday, and the US top diplomat vowed that some of the US aid from Biden's recently approved $60 billion for Ukraine is "now on the way".

But Zelensky immediately pivoted to begging for Patriot missiles amid Russia's new Karkhiv assault, saying that "of course we are very thankful for this to Americans, to American people" but that "We need, really we need today two Patriots for Kharkiv, for Kharkiv region because people there are under attack, civilians and warriors, everybody there is under Russian missiles." As we noted earlier of this perhaps awkward moment...

Blinken did not say that Patriots are on the way, instead he simply offered: "We know this is a challenging time"... words which are unlikely to be of much comfort to Zelensky.

And even while there's near universal consensus that Ukraine frontlines are crumbling especially in the north, Blinken claimed that the new military aid from Washington will "make a real difference against the ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield."

Blinken while in Kiev described that he is discussing "battlefield updates, the impact of new U.S. security and economic assistance, long-term security and other commitments, and ongoing work to bolster Ukraine’s economic recovery."

It marks his fourth unannounced trip to the war-ravaged country since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. But this particular trip is set amid more sober, bleaker Western media reports regarding Ukraine's chances on the battlefield.

Late last month, the Pentagon said it was seeking to "rush" patriot missiles to Ukraine, amid an intensified Russian air campaign which has especially targeted Ukraine's energy and power infrastructure, and which has left swathes of the country in darkness.

European countries have also been scrambling to rush Patriots to Ukraine, with Spain and Germany being the latest to donate.

Greece has also been under pressure to 'do more' with EU leaders recently lecturing Athens while claiming it doesn't really need its own Patriots for self-defense at this moment. Greece has still ruled it out, likely with an eye on the Turkey threat in its own backyard.

Meanwhile cross-border attacks among both sides have been ongoing, with massive Ukrainian shelling of Russia's Belgorod city on the border having resulted in 16 Russian civilians killed after an apartment building was struck and collapsed.

Some reports have also said it was a Ukrainian missile, with sections of the building having collapsed upon projectile impact, and after as emergency services were on the scene.

via zer0hedge