LONDON, March 9. /TASS/. UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss starts her visit to Washington on Wednesday to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to coordinate further support for Ukraine and crippling economic consequences for Russia," the UK Foreign Office said in a statement on Tuesday.

It is noted that the parties will discuss "what more the UK and US can do to support Ukraine on security, intelligence, and humanitarian issues."

"Liz Truss will raise the importance of a stronger deterrence against hostile states, and the need to reduce strategic economic reliance on authoritarian regimes, including energy dependency on Russia," the statement says.

"The UK, US and our allies have shown remarkable strength and unity in supporting Ukraine and imposing severe sanctions on Russia. We need to maintain that unity," Truss said.

"The Ukraine crisis is a wake-up call for free democracies," she said calling on the Western states "to reduce strategic dependency on Russian energy."

"During her visit, the Foreign Secretary will also hold a series of talks with Members of Congress to discuss deepening UK-US ties and she will deliver a keynote speech at the Atlantic Council," the UK Foreign Office said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in Ukraine, stressing that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories. Western countries responded to the actions of the Russian authorities by slapping sanctions against physical and legal entities.