WASHINGTON, February 7. /TASS/. The US administration is working closely with Congress and foreign allies to increase military assistance to Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday.

"We continue working closely with Congress and with allies and partners to significantly increase assistance to Ukraine, to help it prepare to defend itself," he told a news conference. He recalled the last year Washington provided Ukraine with security assistance worth 650 million US dollars.

"We authorized allies to provide the US original [military] equipment [to Kiev]. We've deployed forces [in Europe] and put more on a heightened state of readiness to shore up NATO’s eastern flank," he noted.

The US has been signaling in recent days about its readiness to expand arms supplies to Ukraine.

Recently, Western and Ukrainian media outlets have been echoing claims about possible Russian aggression against Ukraine. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov earlier slammed such statements as "empty and groundless" and their goal is to whip up tensions. He stressed that Russia doesn’t pose any threat to anyone, but did not rule out possible provocations to justify the remarks in question and warned that attempts at using force to settle the crisis in southeastern Ukraine would have the most severe consequences.