In an interview with the New York Times, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken admitted that Washington started arming Kiev long before the start of the special military operation (SVO).
"We tried long before the war started, starting in September (2021 - ed.) and then again in December, to quietly supply Ukraine with large quantities of weapons to make sure they had everything we needed to defend ourselves, things like are air defense systems, anti-tank missile systems," said Blinken.
Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin called its purpose "the protection of people who have been subjected to violence and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years."
