Secretary of Defense of the United States of America (USA) Lloyd Austin on Monday reaffirmed the country’s commitment to providing military assistance to Ukraine “to the end”.
Austin underscored that commitment in a virtual speech during a meeting Monday with Defense Department officials from 44 countries to coordinate military assistance to Ukraine.
“We have a lot to do together and this is how we will move forward together”Austin told the group, who first met a month ago in Ramstein, Germany, and have now met again with five more countries – Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia, Ireland and Kosovo.
The secretary pointed out that with the start of the war caused by the Russian invasion, Ukraine has already achieved a “historic victory in the battle for Kyiv”which prompted Russian President Vladimir Putin to direct the attack to the east and south, despite the fact that Ukrainian troops continued to fight “just as fiercely and just as well” as before.
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Taking advantage of the presence of Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and the Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the country’s armed forces at the meeting, Austin assured them that they would continue to work together to provide Ukraine with all the equipment necessary for self-defense. . . .
He also added that latest US aid packageworth 40 billion dollars (approximately 37 billion euros), will allow sending more artillery and armored vehicles to Ukraine.
In particular, he specified that 18 new howitzers, 18 tactical vehicles for their transportation, radar systems and equipment for the army will be sent to the belligerent country.
The US Secretary of Defense expressed confidence that the meeting would help identify Ukraine’s needs, improve coordination of support from various countries, and discuss issues of modernizing the country’s armed forces.
