Ukraine can win war with right kind of arms: Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin
Blinken said the US will reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon and that Russia had failed and Ukraine had succeeded in terms of "war aims", and promised more military aid
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US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin (left), Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (centre) and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during their meeting in Kyiv, Ukraine | PHOTO: AP/PTI
The United States said it believes Ukraine can win the war, given it has the right weapons. “We believe that we can win, they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said during his visit to Kyiv with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken said the US will reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon and that Russia had failed and Ukraine had succeeded in terms of “war aims”, and promised more military aid, hailing the fight against Russia’s invasion.
But Moscow’s ambassador to Washington told Russian state television that Russia had warned the US against sending more arms to Ukraine. “We stressed the unacceptability of this situation when the United States of America pours weapons into Ukraine, and we demanded an end to this practice,” Anatoly Antonov said.
Meanwhile, Blinken and Austin said the fact they were able to come to Kyiv was proof of Ukraine’s tenacity in forcing Moscow to abandon an assault on the capital last month.
US officials said Austin and Blinken pledged new assistance worth $713 million for Zelenskyy’s government and other countries in the region. An extra $322 million in military aid for Ukraine would take the total US security assistance since the invasion to about $3.7 billion, one official said.
It would also help Ukraine’s armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defence systems that were essentially Nato compatible, the official added.
Blinken said the US will reopen its embassy in Ukraine soon and that Russia had failed and Ukraine had succeeded in terms of “war aims”, and promised more military aid, hailing the fight against Russia’s invasion.
But Moscow’s ambassador to Washington told Russian state television that Russia had warned the US against sending more arms to Ukraine. “We stressed the unacceptability of this situation when the United States of America pours weapons into Ukraine, and we demanded an end to this practice,” Anatoly Antonov said.
Meanwhile, Blinken and Austin said the fact they were able to come to Kyiv was proof of Ukraine’s tenacity in forcing Moscow to abandon an assault on the capital last month.
US officials said Austin and Blinken pledged new assistance worth $713 million for Zelenskyy’s government and other countries in the region. An extra $322 million in military aid for Ukraine would take the total US security assistance since the invasion to about $3.7 billion, one official said.
It would also help Ukraine’s armed forces transition to more advanced weapons and air defence systems that were essentially Nato compatible, the official added.
Topics : Russia Ukraine Conflict Ukraine Russia