RFE/RL has set up a YouTube live feed of today's joint press conference with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson:
Our news desk has sent us this update on Tillerson's visit to Kyiv:
Tillerson Emphasizes Need For Reforms On First Ukraine Visit
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, for talks with President Petro Poroshenko and other officials.
The July 9 visit is Tillerson's first to Ukraine as secretary of state.
"Ukraine has come a long way," Tillerson said during the opening of the talks. "We want to acknowledge that. And we still have more to do. And this is all about securing Ukraine's future, making the place attractive for investors, being attractive to their European neighbors. And we want to acknowledge what's been done, but there's more that needs to be done."
According to the State Department, Tillerson also plans to meet with "key activists pushing for reforms" in Ukraine.
The meetings come a day after the conclusion of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, where Tillerson attended the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While Trump called that meeting "tremendous" and has called for better ties with Moscow, his administration has maintained U.S. sanctions targeting Russia over its 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and it political and military backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on July 5 that Tillerson would "reaffirm" Washington’s "commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and encourage Kyiv to continue implementing reforms to strengthen its "economic, political, and military resilience."
Tillerson was accompanied to Kyiv by Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO whom Trump's top diplomat has appointed as a special envoy to negotiate to help implement a 2-year-old roadmap for regulating the war in eastern Ukraine, which has left more than 10,000 dead since it began in early 2014.
Poroshenko welcomed Volker's appointment, calling it an "important and timely move in the interests of ending Russian aggression and restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, including Crimea."
With reporting by AP
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this look-ahead for Rex Tillerson's visit to Kyiv today (from RFE/RL's news desk):
Tillerson Set To Meet Poroshenko In First Official Visit To Ukraine
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is set to arrive in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on July 9 on his first official visit to Ukraine.
The planned meeting comes a day after the conclusion of the Group of 20 (G20) summit in Hamburg, Germany, where Tillerson attended the first meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While Trump called the meeting "tremendous" and has called for better ties with Moscow, his administration has maintained U.S. sanctions targeting Russia over its 2014 seizure of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and backing of armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said on July 5 that Tillerson would "reaffirm" Washington's "commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity" and encourage Kyiv to continue implementing reforms to strengthen its "economic, political, and military resilience."
The State Department announced on July 7 that Tillerson would be accompanied to Kyiv by Kurt Volker, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO whom Trump's top diplomat has appointed as a special envoy to negotiate over the fate of war-racked Ukraine.
Poroshenko welcomed Volker's appointment, calling it an "important and timely move in the interests of ending Russian aggression and restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, including Crimea."
This ends our live blogging for July 8. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
