The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, announced this Wednesday a new military aid package to Ukraine valued at 200 million dollars, focused especially on air defense and artillery.
Austin announced this at the beginning of a new meeting of the Contact Group for the Defense of Ukraine led by the United States, organized at NATO headquarters and in which the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, participated for the first time in person. He arrived today on a surprise visit to Brussels.
“I am proud that the United States is announcing its latest security assistance package for Ukraine, valued at $200 million and which includes ammunition for a new air defense system that we will soon deliver to Ukraine, as well as artillery ammunition and rockets, precision aerial ammunition, all types of weapons and equipment to counter Russian drones,” Austin said.
About $43 billion for Ukraine
The US has already committed some $43.9 billion to Ukraine since the start of Russian aggression against that country in February 2022.
Austin also highlighted that the coalition of fifty countries led by the United States has committed more than $33 billion in aid to Ukraine.
“We are here to offer whatever it takes for as long as it takes so that Ukraine can live in freedom. So today we will talk about the immediate needs of Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s blatant aggression,” Austin said.
The United States announces this aid package after the agreement reached on September 30 to finance the Administration for another 45 days, in which a new allocation for kyiv was not specified.
The US will be with Ukraine “as long as it takes”
“Make no mistake: the United States will stand by Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Austin said.
The US defense secretary, who previously met with Zelensky, said they also need to discuss “how to balance our immediate support for defending Ukraine with our longer-term help.”
He explained that he will ask the coalition countries to work in “coalitions of capabilities” similar to those already promoted to provide Kiev with tanks or F-16 combat aircraft.
“Now we are taking a step further, we are asking countries to organize coalitions for broader capabilities, beyond specific platforms,” he commented.
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, highlighted that next Monday will mark 600 days since the start of the war and that “no one can say with certainty how many more days” his country will have to defend its “independence and identity.”
Zelensky’s warning about Moscow’s ambitions
“Our era is not the era of the slavery of nations,” he asserted, warning that Moscow’s ambitions “have never been limited to Ukraine.”
“We want these ambitions to be defeated in Ukraine as soon as possible,” he said.
He stressed the importance of putting pressure on Russia on the battlefield without pause, adding that Moscow has lost the initiative in the war.
However, he warned that the Kremlin still has “sufficient resources” to provoke conflicts and specified that this is happening in the Sahel and could happen in Israel and the Middle East.
“We must not allow that to happen,” he asserted.
“Air defense is a significant part of the answer to the question of when this war (against Ukraine) will end and whether it will end fairly for Ukraine,” he said.
Protection of the sky
He added that the protection of the sky guarantees “a normal life in the cities”, that the economy develops or that Ukraine can export its grain.
“It is important to remove weapons from the hands of the enemy. What are Russia’s strengths? Let’s be honest. Just the fact that it can destroy lives. Russia is not capable of doing anything else. Are you a security provider? No. A development advocate? No. (…) A source of economic growth? No. A terrorist? Yes, yes, that is the only thing, and that threatens Ukraine and many other nations,” she stated.
Therefore, he called for removing weapons from Russia’s hands and providing air defense and other weapons to Ukraine.
On the other hand, upon his arrival at NATO he stated that Ukraine has “almost everything ready” to open accession negotiations with the European Union.
For his part, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg highlighted that Ukraine has already recovered “50% of the territory taken by Russia since February of last year.”
“Russia is militarily degraded, economically weak and politically more isolated,” said Stoltenberg, who warned at the same time that “there is no indication that Putin has given up his ambitions for the country.”
