Secretary of State Blinken makes surprise visit to Ukraine as more U.S. aid announced

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• Judy Woodruff:

  U.S. Secretary of State Tony Blinken made a surprise visit to Kyiv today, as Secretary of Defense Austin and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs met allies in Germany. They unveiled a 20th package of U.S. weapons for Ukraine.

  And following it all is our Nick Schifrin, who joins me from Southern Ukraine.

  So, hello again, Nick.

  Tell us about these promises made today by Secretary Blinken.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Yes, Blinken's trip here was the highest-profile part of a kind of triumvirate of support by Blinken, by the secretary of defense, and by the president, who called allies about Ukraine today.

  And Blinken traveled to Kyiv by train on a visit that was kept secret until he arrived. And in the center of town, he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his office and announced a $2.7 billion long-term assistance program to Ukraine and 18 Eastern European allies.

  And he called this a pivotal moment in the war, a reference to Ukraine's counteroffensive in Southern Ukraine trying to re-seize that territory occupied by Russia. Blinken called the counteroffensive — quote — "effective."

  And Blinken walked through Irpin, a suburb north of Kyiv, one of the epicenters of horror of this war, where Russian soldiers bound, tortured, murdered, and dumped hundreds of Ukrainian civilians into mass graves. And Blinken called for accountability.

  Antony Blinken, U.S. Secretary of State: Look at all of these buildings, all civilian dwellings. And, at best, it seems indiscriminate, at worst, intentional.

  We are working hard to support the — support your efforts and the efforts of others, because there has to be accountability for those who committed atrocities, those who ordered atrocities.

• Nick Schifrin:

  You heard there Blinken saying that he and the U.S. were supporting Ukraine's efforts to try and hold accountable not only soldiers, Judy, who some of whom have already been found guilty in Ukrainian courts, but also senior Russian officials who, of course, ordered those soldiers to do what they did.

  But there's still no clear mechanisms, no clear legal route to figure out how to hold those senior officials accountable.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And, Nick, there was also military aid announced by the U.S. today. Tell us about that.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Yes, whereas Blinken announced a long-term package that will help Ukraine and Eastern Europe over the next few years, this was a 20th package announced by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley as part of a presidential drawdown, as in drawing down U.S. weapons and sending them to Ukraine immediately.

  And they announced it in Germany alongside their counterparts from 50 countries known as the Ukraine Contact Group. The $675 million announced today includes more artillery to fight, especially Ukraine's eastern front, where it's made gains in the last couple of days.

  Austin called on allies to increase their military production to fight against a Russia that he said poses a challenge to all of them.

  Lloyd Austin, U.S. Secretary of Defense: Ukraine is fighting for its life. It's fighting for its sovereign territory and its democracy and its freedom. But the stakes reach far beyond the front lines. They reach us all.

• Nick Schifrin:

  As for that counteroffensive, General Milley was very cautious, saying it was — quote — "too early" to give a full assessment. Milley said Russia's strategic goals had been defeated, but he did admit that Russia was making — quote — "tactical gains" in Eastern Ukraine, especially in the Donbass, where we do see Russian soldiers slowly, but nevertheless making some progress.

• Judy Woodruff:

  And, Nick, finally, there was also a warning from the U.S. today about Russia's occupation of that nuclear power plant at Zaporizhzhia.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Yes, absolutely.

  Secretary Austin called the occupation — quote — "deeply reckless and could have grave consequences."

  Zaporizhzhia is Europe's largest nuclear power plant. And, last winter, it provided about 20 percent of all of Ukraine's energy needs. There are usually six reactors that are on there. But, today, five of them are off. And the final one is providing electricity only to the plant itself to prevent any kind of meltdown. They call that island mode, because the plant is effectively disconnected from the Ukrainian grid.

  I talked about that. And so many of the nuclear fears here with the president of Ukraine's state energy authority, Energoatom, Petro Kotin, in Kyiv yesterday.

  Petro Kotin, thank you very much. Welcome to the "NewsHour."

• Petro Kotin, Acting President, Energoatom:

  Thank you for having me.

• Nick Schifrin:

  How concerned are you today about the risk of a nuclear disaster?

• Petro Kotin:

  I'm very concerned about the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

  And, actually, we have very severe situation in there, because we do not have any connection of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian grid. All the lines which connect to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was agreed are damaged at the moment, so there is no electricity coming in or out of the plant.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Is the Russian goal, you believe, to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian grid and redirect the power from Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant into Russia?

• Petro Kotin:

  It was actually their original goal when they started all the shelling.

  And now they achieved this goal. The plant is completely disconnected from Ukrainian grid.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Can you fix the lines that go from the power plant to the rest of Ukraine?

• Petro Kotin:

  Yes, we are trying to do that. And not all lines can be repaired at the moment, because some of them are under heavy shelling.

  And this is the question of negotiations between militaries, military commanders from Ukrainian side and from Russian side.

• Nick Schifrin:

  How important do you believe is it that the output of the plant get repaired before the winter?

• Petro Kotin:

  This plant is very important for us. The — actually, seven months ago, we operate with all six units during winter period.

  So, if you do not have the plant in winter, then it will be a really severe period for Ukrainian energy system.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Has Russia already severed all of the lines that go into the plant to provide the plant electricity?

• Petro Kotin:

  All lines at the moment are broken.

  This is viable for the plant to survive, actually, so cooling of nuclear material, and it's to be cooled constantly. You cannot just stop cooling for one minute or for two minutes. It should be cooled all the time.

• Nick Schifrin:

  That's basically what happened in Fukushima. The plant loss a source of electricity.

• Petro Kotin:

  It was like earthquake at Fukushima, and they lost all external power supply, like it is at Zaporizhzhia right now.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Right now, the plant's only source of power is one of its own reactors. Is that sustainable?

• Petro Kotin:

  As far as I know, it is the first time in the history this type of reactor is operated in such a mode.

• Nick Schifrin:

  The bottom line is that it is not sustainable, right, between generators or this reactor providing its own electricity. It's just not designed to do that, right?

• Petro Kotin:

  Yes, exactly.

• Nick Schifrin:

  When Mr. Grossi was being led around on the power plant, we saw an official from Rosatom being the tour guide, essentially.

  What's the presence of Russian civilian officials and what are they doing?

• Petro Kotin:

  There are about 10 to 15 persons who are like spies, who does not understand any civilian nuclear.

  And this just crazy situation completely.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Let's talk about the physical risk to the plant.

  The plant is built to withstand a lot of physical damage, but are you concerned about the physical damage from military action actually creating a spread of radiation?

• Petro Kotin:

  This type of reactor is to withstand even airplane which is coming.

  But if you do it intentionally and continuously to have these intentions in your crazy mind, in your crazy head, then you can finally actually break everything, every protection.

• Nick Schifrin:

  But do you believe that's what Russia wants to do, or, no, it wants to keep the plant intact in order to redirect the output to Russia?

• Petro Kotin:

  Yes, if they want to blackmail all the world.

  Right now, we more or less understand what they want. They want just to ruin our economy. The second is to reconnect it to the system. That is their goals.

• Nick Schifrin:

  Petro Kotin, thank you very much.

• Petro Kotin:

  Thank you.