The following is a transcript of an interview with Secretary of State Antony Blinken that aired on May 12, 2024.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Mr. Secretary, I have so many more questions about this, but I have to also ask you about Ukraine because Russia is making this push, as you know, into Kharkiv and the White House says that Russia is expected to increase troop levels. Is this the reality? Is this the cost of the delay in the U.S. delivering weapons to those frontlines?

SECRETARY BLINKEN: Look, there's no- there's no doubt there's been a cost in the months-long delay in getting the supplementary budget request approved and the equipment sent out to- to Ukraine. Just this week, we did a drawdown of about $400 million in defense equipment for Ukraine coming from the supplemental. So we're doing everything we can to rush this assistance out there. Europeans are doing the same. Look, I'm convinced that Ukraine can effectively hold the line in the east, it can continue to press the advantages achieved for itself in the Black Sea, where it's getting as much out through the Black Sea, feeding the world as it did before the Russian re-invasion of Ukraine, as well as to hold Russian forces at risk, including in Crimea to make it more difficult for them to continue this aggression. We've been providing the systems to do that, but it's a challenging moment. We are not going anywhere, and neither are more than some 50 countries that are supporting Ukraine. That will continue and if Putin thinks he can outlast Ukraine, outlast its supporters. He's wrong.

CBS news.

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