There was no doubting the message from Antony Blinken’s musical debut in Kyiv on Tuesday night. The US secretary of state made a surprise appearance on stage in a bar in Kyiv, as he appeared alongside Ukrainian band 19.99 in a rendition of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Blinken, who played guitar with the punk/jazz band and even joined in on vocals, arrived in the Ukrainian capital on Tuesday for a surprise trip, in which he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss battlefield updates and the importance of newly arrived US aid. The visit is the first by a Biden administration official since the long-delayed passage of US supplemental funding to the war-torn country. Perhaps even more of a surprise, however, was his appearance at Barman Dictat on Tuesday evening, a popular underground cocktail bar and music venue just off Kyiv’s main street, Khreshchatyk. The bar, which…
