Supporting Ukraine’s fight against tyranny makes our countries safer.
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This was stated by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the opening of the 18th Ramstein meeting, which is being held online.
He called on the group members to continue to provide assistance to Ukraine, in particular air defense systems. He added that “we should not hesitate in our support for Ukraine.” These statements come after yet another round of Russian attacks and against the backdrop of a delay in Western aid to Ukraine.
At the same time, Austin said that the United States does not have evidence of misuse or illegal transfer to third parties of American weapons provided to Ukraine.
Ukraine uses all the weapons provided to defend against Russian aggression – the US Secretary of Defense stated this in his opening speech during the opening of the meeting.
According to him, the United States continues to work hard to monitor and report on US assistance provided to Ukraine.
He also stressed that allies must continue to focus on both Ukraine’s immediate battlefield needs and long-term assistance to support and modernize our defense forces.
Russia sent thousands of soldiers to their deaths. They sacrifice an average of 400 soldiers in exchange for a square kilometer of land. Since our last meeting, Russia has lost more than 54 thousand soldiers. However, the enemy has unlimited mobilization resources,” Austin said.
At the first meeting in the Ramstein format in 2024, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that the leadership of Ukraine had set clear military tasks and goals for 2024, and the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had worked out priorities and other details for this year.
The minister noted that a sufficient amount of equipment and ammunition, maintenance and spare parts is critical to holding the front line, but a breakthrough requires innovation and significant technological progress
The Ukrainian military said today that Ukraine will have more long-range weapons. Within the framework of Ramstein, issues of increasing the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine were discussed separately.
The head of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Defense, junior lieutenant Illarion Pavlyuk, announced this at a special meeting with journalists at the Military Media Center.
There is a full understanding of our partners that we need these weapons and a commitment to work to provide Ukraine with more weapons for such attacks,” Pavlyuk said.
The meeting also discussed the adaptation of Western-style anti-aircraft missiles to Soviet launch platforms at the disposal of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, as well as increasing capabilities to increase the production of ammunition and artillery systems, including in joint projects of partner countries with Ukraine.
In turn, the head of the Department of International Defense Cooperation of the Ministry of Defense, Colonel Gennady Kovalenko, said that the meeting also discussed issues of strengthening Ukraine’s capabilities within the framework of the aviation, air defense, artillery and maritime security coalitions. In particular, the colonel noted, within the framework of the aviation coalition, along with obligations to provide F-16 aircraft, issues of providing additional helicopters by the allies are also being discussed.
It was a productive meeting, after which I would like to say to “put aside panic” to everyone raising the mood about the loss of support for Ukraine,” concluded Illarion Pavlyuk.
Source: Racurs
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.