U.S. defense secretary to visit Ukraine on Aug. 24

U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis will visit Kyiv,
Ukraine on Aug. 24, the day commemorating Ukrainian independence from the
Soviet Union. He will meet with Ukrainian President Poroshenko and Defense Minister
Stepan Poltorak, the Pentagon announced in an Aug. 18 statement. “During these
engagements, the secretary will reassure our Ukrainian partners that the U.S.
remains firmly committed to the goal of restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty and
territorial integrity, as well as strengthening the strategic defense
partnership between our two countries,” the statement said.

Kurt Volker, the U.S. special representative to
Ukraine, will meet today in Minsk with Vladyslav Surkov, a key advisor to
Russian President Putin, news media said. The entire meeting will be closed to
the press, the Belarusian Foreign Ministry reported. They will discuss the
conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Zenon Zawada: Mattis’s
visit is significant, considering the symbolism of his visiting on Independence
Day. As we understand it, this is the first visit of a U.S. defense minister to
Ukraine in nearly a decade. Robert Gates visited in October 2007 as the
Ukrainian government was moving towards a NATO Membership Action Plan, which never
materialized.

Numerous statements have surfaced in recent months on
the possibility of the U.S. offering lethal defensive weapons to the Ukrainian
army in Donbas. We don’t think this will happen because it would escalate what
is otherwise a stabilized situation of low-level warfare, with limited
casualties. Instead we expect a discussion on alternatives and adjustments to
the Minsk Accords, particularly after Volker’s meeting with Surkov.

With the departure of Michael Flynn in February and
now Steve Bannon this weekend, both representing the Russia détente camp,
President Trump’s foreign policy will be firmly in line with the Western
establishment. That means the U.S. will continue to pressure Russia with
economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation to end its occupation of Ukrainian
territory.