US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin must pay to rebuild what he destroyed in Ukraine.
Speaking in kyiv, Blinken said Washington had the power to seize Russian assets in the United States and would use them to help rebuild Ukraine.
He also said that Ukraine was “moving closer to NATO.”
Earlier, America’s top diplomat told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that military aid was “now on the way.”
“What Putin destroyed, Russia should – must – pay to rebuild. That’s what international law demands. And that’s what the Ukrainian people deserve,” Blinken said during his speech at Kiev Polytechnic University.
“Our Congress has given us the authority to seize Russian assets in the United States and we intend to use it,” he said.
He added that the G7 group – the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US – can unlock billions of dollars “and send a powerful message to Putin : time is not on his side.”
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago, Russian state assets in the EU, estimated at almost €211 billion (£181 billion), have been frozen.
Mr Blinken landed in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday after a nine-hour sleeper train journey from the Polish border.
His visit comes as the country struggles to contain a major Russian incursion near its second-largest city, Kharkiv.
Mr Blinken’s arrival also marks three weeks since the US Congress finally approved a new $61bn (£49bn) aid package for Ukraine.
“We are bringing Ukraine closer to NATO and then integrating it,” Blinken said in his speech.
“We will ensure that the bridge between Ukraine and NATO is strong.”
During his meeting with President Zelensky, Blinken paid tribute to Ukraine’s “extraordinary resilience” and the Ukrainian president’s “strength and leadership.”
He acknowledged that it was a “difficult time” but that U.S. aid was “on the way,” which he said would make a crucial difference on the battlefield.
