White House deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said Sunday to expect more announcements on US assistance to Ukraine "in the week ahead," highlighting the billions of dollars in security aid the US has delivered so far.
"We've been announcing deliverables, which is a fancy word for things that we are providing to the Ukrainians, to enable their fight just about every day and if not every day, every week, and we will have more to say about that in the week ahead," Finer said on NBC's "Meet the Press," stressing that US assistance has had a "significant" impact.
When asked if the US was ready to designate Russia a state sponsor of terrorism, Finer said that the administration continues to look into "additional steps" when it comes to punishing the Kremlin for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"I think we've been clear that we're looking at that as we're looking at a whole range of other additional steps that we could take to hold Russia accountable for the crimes that it's perpetrating on the ground in Ukraine," Finer said.
CNN reported on Monday that the US State Department was looking into adding Russia to the list of countries labelled as state sponsors of terrorism — which include North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Syria — a move that would further cement the Kremlin's status as a pariah state.
Finer also pointed out Russia's "shifting" war aims since its invasion of Ukraine started two months ago, noting that it is "quite clear" that the Kremlin's forces have "had to adjust" in the face of stiff Ukrainian resistance to focus more on the South and East of the country.
Asked about whether a further push by the Russians into southern Ukraine would change US strategy, Finer said that the US has remained "nimble."
"We've shown ability to be nimble to adjust our assistance and our approach as the Russian war aims have evolved. And we will continue to do that over time depending on how things evolve on the battlefield," Finer said.
On the talks between the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Russian President Vladimir Putin, Finer said that Ukrainians should be the "touchstone" in any discussions.
Asked to confirm whether the US would be sending a high-level delegation to Ukraine, as Zelensky said would be happening, Finer reiterated that the US would not announce such a visit in advance.
"We've also been quite clear that if we were going to take some sort of high-level visit to Ukraine, we would not be announcing that in advance," Finer said.