Blinken and Ukrainian foreign minister stress urgency of approving aid to Ukraine

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday stressed the "urgent" need for the US Congress to approve a military aid package for Ukraine, before meeting with Kiev's Foreign Minister on the Italian island of Capri. 

"At this time it is urgent that all friends and supporters of Ukraine do as much as possible in their efforts to give Ukraine what it needs to continue to defend itself effectively against Russian aggression," Blinken told reporters before meeting his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmitro Kuleba. 

Blinken held a bilateral with Kuleba ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers -- comprising Italy, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan -- on Ukraine scheduled for Thursday afternoon. 

A diplomatic source in Italy, which holds this year's rotating G7 presidency, said the aim is to speed up the delivery of defence systems for Ukraine, which has been facing a Russian invasion since February 2022. 

The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives scheduled a vote on Saturday on a new $61 billion aid package for Ukraine that Joe Biden's administration is advocating and which has been blocked for several months. 

Kuleba stressed the need for a deal on this envelope that he said would "without exaggeration, help save Ukrainians from being slaughtered by Russian missiles". 

"This is a matter of life and death for thousands of people, in a broader sense, it is about Ukraine's survival in its fight against a much stronger enemy," the Ukrainian Foreign Minister said, referring to a Russian bombing that left 18 people dead in the city of Chernigov on Wednesday.