2024-03-20 22:48:41
“The United States and the free world will not let Ukraine fall and will continue to support it in defense against the Russian invasion,” US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany at the beginning of the meeting on further arms support for Kiev.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin spoke about support for Ukraine | Video: Reuters
“Russia has paid a staggering price for Putin’s imperial dreams. At least 315,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or injured since Putin’s all-out invasion in February 2022. Russia has squandered up to $211 billion to equip, deploy, maintain and sustain its imperial aggression against Ukraine.” Austin said. He noted that, in addition to human losses, Russia must also reckon with economic consequences due to the war. “Putin’s decision to go to war will cost Russia 1.3 trillion dollars (30.3 trillion crowns) by 2026 of the originally estimated economic growth,” he said.
The American Secretary of Defense also said that Ukraine can continue to rely on American and Western aid in defense. “As US President Joe Biden said, Putin will not stop in Ukraine, but Ukraine can stop Putin,” Austin said. He noted that Kiev therefore needs arms deliveries for its defense.
Austin also thanked countries that have recently prepared new weapons packages. Right after the introduction of new US aid worth 300 million dollars (seven billion crowns), he mentioned Czech plans to procure 800,000 pieces of artillery ammunition. He also thanked Britain, Germany, the Scandinavian and Baltic states or Poland.
“The US will not let Ukraine fall, this coalition will not let Ukraine fall, the free world will not let Ukraine fall,” Austin said. At the final press conference, Austin also spoke about the importance of American support for Ukraine. “Today, the survival of Ukraine is in danger, and the security of America is also in danger,” said the US Secretary of Defense. He also said he was committed to maintaining US security and arms support. “For Ukraine it is a question of survival and sovereignty, and for America it is a question of honor and security,” he added.
Ukrainian forces will receive more artillery rounds and missiles, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov expects, according to the RBK-Ukraine server. According to the minister, the meeting at the Ramstein base demonstrated the unity and the ability of the partners to act. “Ammunition is what our soldiers critically need. Ammunition will be! It was the main topic of the meeting, and the partners announced aid packages that will include 155, 152 and 105 millimeter artillery rounds and more. We are grateful to the partners for searching around the world and find the ammunition necessary to repel the aggressor,” wrote Umerov on Facebook.
Air defense, which protects Ukrainian cities and units from bombing, is also to receive more missiles. F-16 fighter jets are also supposed to protect Ukrainian skies, and according to the minister, Kyiv and its partners are trying to get these machines to Ukraine as soon as possible. According to Umerov, Ukraine should receive the first deliveries of drones from new partners already this month.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion, the US government has been sending military equipment to Ukraine from its stockpile, which it then replenishes with money released by Congress. But at the end of last year, it used up the last funds that lawmakers made available for that purpose, and American military aid has been crippled ever since. The proposal, which would provide the government with an additional 60 billion dollars (1.4 trillion crowns) for military and economic support of Ukraine, has already passed the Senate, but the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives is still blocking it.
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The Russians are rolling on the Ukrainians. They attack on Desertcross 1000-3 “golf carts,” the defenders showed. | Video: Aktuálně.cz/Telegram/60. independent mechanized brigade, Aktuálně.cz/X/Alexander Kovalenko