The American Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, traveled by surprise to Kyiv on Tuesday to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky and thus reaffirm his support for Ukraine in a “difficult moment” of the war with Russia. He did it in a double meeting; first with the Ukrainian president during the day and then at night in an underground bar in the capital.
A great music fan, the head of American diplomacy kept the suit in the hotel closet and showed his rock side on stage. Accompanied by a local band, Blinken played a red guitar with his left hand and sang Rockin’ in the Free World by Neil Young, an anthem that was released in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
“Your soldiers, your citizens – particularly in the northeast, in Kharkiv – are suffering a lot. But they need to know, you need to know, that America is with you, much of the world is with you, and they are not just fighting for a free Ukraine, but also for the free world. And the free world is with you,” he told the BarmanDictat attendees before pressing the pick and starting to play.
The Secretary of State went to eat earlier with his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kouleba, at a pizzeria founded by a veteran of the war with Russia. He then strolled through Maidan Square before going to a cafe to chat with anti-corruption activists.
This is not the first time that Blinken has shown his musical skills with a guitar in public. Without going any further, in September of last year he promoted a diplomatic initiative from the United States, together with the production company The Recording Academy, in order to “elevate music as a tool of peace and democracy and thus support the broader objectives of the foreign policy of the United States. At a lunch to celebrate the creation of the Global Music Diplomaci Initiative he played Muddy Water’s song Hoochie Coochie Man for the attendees.
Blinken told Zelensky on Tuesday that part of a major US aid package had arrived in Ukraine and that more was on the way that would “make a real difference” in the conflict. He is the first senior American official to travel to Ukraine since Congress last month approved a long-delayed $61 billion aid package.
Kyiv’s outnumbered troops are fighting a new Russian offensive in the northeast as well as assaults in the east. “We know it is a difficult time. But we also know that in the short term help is on the way, that some of it has already arrived and that more will arrive,” Blinken declared. “And that is going to make a real difference against ongoing Russian aggression on the battlefield,” he said hours before surprising the world with his musical performance.
