US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says West must continue to arm Ukraine
As expected, the military assistance demanded by Ukraine has been on the agenda at a NATO meeting in Brussels. According to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the West cannot slow down with arms aid.
According to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, the West has no time to waste on arming Ukraine.
- We can't afford to relax now, we can't slow down. The stakes are too high in the situation, Austin said on Wednesday afternoon ahead of the US-hosted Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels.
A group of more than 45 countries is coordinating the delivery of arms assistance to Ukraine. The group is now meeting for the third time since Russia launched its offensive war on Ukraine on 24 February.
The meeting will be held jointly by the NATO Defense Ministers. Finland has also been invited to a two-day NATO meeting.
Before the two-day meeting, Ukraine published a list of weapons and supplies it needs in the war. The list is said to include a thousand howitzers, 300 rocket launcher systems, and 500 tanks.
Reuters: the US is scheduled to announce new deliveries in the coming days
According to Austin, the situation is critical.
Ukraine, for example, has estimated that Russia currently has ten times as much firepower. Fighting in eastern Ukraine is also fierce as Russia has concentrated its attack on the Donbas region.
According to the US Secretary of Defense, he is in close contact with his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov.
"We need to work harder to ensure that Ukraine can defend itself, its citizens, and its territory," Austin said.
To date, the United States has pledged more than $ 24 billion in military aid to Ukraine alone. Over the past month, the United States has said, among other things, that it is supplying Ukraine with medium-range rocket launchers.
The news agency Reuters said before the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group that the United States is due to announce new arms deliveries in the coming days. Reuters bases the information on government sources that remain anonymous.
