WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin pledged Monday to proceed sending U.S. weapons to Ukraine as Kiev faces considered one of its hardest times within the face of a renewed attack from Russia.
Austin and as much as 50 defense leaders from Europe and around the globe met Monday to coordinate more military aid to Ukraine because it tries to fend off a Russian offensive within the northeast while launching its own massive attack on the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula start.
“We meet at a moment of challenge,” Austin said, noting that Russia’s latest attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, showed why engagement is crucial. Austin vowed to maintain U.S. weapons moving “week after week.”
Austin told reporters the group spent plenty of time talking about Ukraine's urgent need for air defense systems, which he said would help deter Russian attacks.
“We will continue to work to ensure that Ukraine owns its airspace and can defend its citizens and civilian infrastructure far from the front lines,” he said after the meeting ended.
Speaking alongside Austin, Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that while there are currently no plans to send U.S. instructors back to Ukraine to work with Ukrainian forces, the U.S. will accomplish that after the war could.
“Once this conflict is over and we're feeling better, then I would suspect we'll be able to get the coaches involved again,” he said.
The U.S. didn’t announce any latest aid packages on Monday, whilst Ukraine's armed forces proceed to complain that weapons are slow to enter the country after being stalled for months by a funding blockade in Congress. Pentagon officials said weapons pre-deployed in Europe were transported to Ukraine shortly after aid funding was approved in late April.
It is unclear how much of this has reached a few of the front lines where Russian troops have stepped up their attacks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday during a visit to China that Moscow's offensive within the northeastern Kharkiv region was geared toward making a buffer zone, but there have been no plans to capture town.
Ukrainian troops are fighting to stop Russia's advance within the Kharkiv region while stepping up offensive attacks in Crimea, including on military infrastructure on the Black Sea coast and within the Russian-occupied city of Sevastopol.
Ukraine is struggling to get enough troops to the front because the war enters its third yr and fighting takes its toll. To increase troop numbers, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed two laws allowing prisoners to affix the military and increasing fines for conscientious objectors fivefold. The controversial mobilization law comes into force on Saturday.
In the 4 weeks since President Joe Biden signed the $95 billion foreign aid package, which included about $61 billion for Ukraine, the U.S. has stockpiled $1.4 billion value of weapons from the Pentagon and announced that they would supply $6 billion in funding through the Security Assistance to Ukraine initiative. USAI pays for longer-term contracts with the defense industry, meaning it could take many months or years for the weapons to reach.
The U.S. can also be providing additional coastal and riverine patrol boats, trailers, explosive munitions, high-speed anti-radiation missiles, protective equipment, spare parts and other weapons and equipment.
The State Department has also approved a planned emergency sale of HIMARS to Ukraine for an estimated $30 million. The state said Ukraine had asked to purchase three of the missile systems funded by the German government.
Since Russia's invasion in February 2022, the US has now provided around $50.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine.
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