CIA director met with Ukrainian president in Kiev last week - media

WASHINGTON. Jan 20 (Interfax) - CIA Director William Burns made a secret trip to Kiev at the end of last week, The Washington Post said, citing informed sources.

"CIA Director William J. Burns traveled in secret to Ukraine's capital at the end of last week to brief President Vladimir Zelensky on [...] what Russia is planning militarily in the coming weeks and months," the newspaper said.

"Director Burns traveled to Kiev where he met with Ukrainian intelligence counterparts as well as President Zelensky and reinforced our continued support for Ukraine," a U.S. official, who was not identified, said.

The central issue for Zelensky and his senior intelligence officials during the meeting was how long Ukraine could expect U.S. and Western assistance to continue after Republicans won control of the House, according to the report.

Burns acknowledged that at some point it would be harder for Ukraine to receive assistance, the sources said.

However, according to the newspaper's sources, Zelensky and his aides came away from the meeting with the impression that President Joe Biden's administration's support for Kiev remains strong and the $45 billion in emergency funding for Ukraine passed by Congress in December would last at least through July or August.

Nonetheless, Kiev is less certain about the prospects of Congress passing another multibillion-dollar additional assistance package as it did last spring, they said.