Janet Yellen Makes Surprise Ukraine Visit In Wake Of Russian Drone Strikes: What You Need To Know

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is on a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday.

The appearance is one week after President Joe Biden visited Kyiv to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart and express support for the Eastern European nation.

Yellen's unannounced trip has the goal of reinforcing Biden's support by showing the U.S. economic commitment to support Ukraine. She's meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Kyiv.

On Thursday, while attending the G20 gathering of finance chiefs in India, Yellen said the U.S. is expected to provide an additional $10 billion in non-lethal economic assistance to Ukraine during the coming months.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Yellen said Ukrainians "wouldn't be able to have kids who continue to go to school, whose parents continue to go to work," if the U.S. funding is not provided. She added that the money is needed for basic government institutions to continue to run.

Zelenskyy’s government has said that the country will need $38 billion this year to maintain basic operations in what it expects would come from assistance from the U.S., the European Union and the IMF, reported the Wall Street Journal. The Ukrainian economy has shrunk by 30% since the war broke out.

Yellen's visit marked the delivery of the first $1.25 billion out of the committed $10 billion. According to the Treasury chief, the U.S. has already provided Ukraine with almost $50 billion in military aid.

What's Happening In Ukraine: At least two people died on Monday morning as a Russian-launched air drone attack hit the western Ukrainian city of Khmelnytskyi.

The attack was part of a Russian offensive that launched 14 unmanned strike drones across the country, the New York Times reported. Ukraine's official communications said that the country's military was able to fend off 11 of the drones.

Air raid alarms sounded through the night in Kyiv and other cities across the country as Yellen made her arrival.

Five Ukrainian civilians were killed on Sunday as Russia executed an artillery strike in the Donetsk region and in the port city of Kherson.

A spokesperson for Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that China's proposed 12-step plan for de-escalation of the conflict was not deemed possible under current conditions.

The announcement came days after China denied acknowledgment of an alleged partnership to provide Russia with 100 Chinese-made "kamikaze drones."

Stocks To Watch

Yellen's visit to Ukraine could have an impact on several key sectors of the U.S. economy.

Cybersecurity stocks started Monday positively on news of Yellen's visit to Ukraine. 

• Palo Alto Networks Inc PANW was up 1.94%
• SentinelOne Inc S was up 2.46%
• Fortinet Inc FTNT was up 1.85%
• Crowdstrike Holdings Inc CRWD was up 3.74%
• Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. CHKP was up 0.31%
• Zscaler Inc ZS was up 1.68%

Traditional defense stocks didn't show universal signs of becoming affected by the news.

• Northrop Grumman Corp NOC was down 0.3% on Monday.
• Raytheon Technologies Corp RTX was down 0.04%
• L3Harris Technologies Inc LHX was up 0.18%
• General Dynamics Corporation GD was down 0.69%

Some players in the oil and gas sector were up today.

• Exxon Mobil Corp XOM was up 0.31%
• Chevron Corporation CVX was up 0.51%
• BP plc BP was up 1.73%

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