The US government announced on Thursday that it would provide $675 million in direct military aid to Ukraine and said efforts by the Allies to strengthen Kiev had visible results on the battlefield.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is making a surprise visit to Kiev on February 24, his second visit to the Ukrainian capital since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The secretary was very excited to make this trip now, because this is a very important moment for Ukraine,” said a US government official accompanying Blinken.
Blinken’s visit to Kyiv coincides with a new series of talks by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin with allied nations at the Ramstein base in Germany.
Austin said that Kiev not only resisted the Russian invaders, but launched a counterattack in the south.
“We now see the demonstrable success of our joint efforts on the battlefield,” he said.
Austin told the media that the new aid includes GMLRS-type rocket launch systems, “105mm mortars, artillery munitions, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems, small arms and more.”
“Every day we see the determination of allies and partners around the world helping Ukraine resist Russia’s illegal, imperial and indefensible war of conquest.”
In addition to US$675 million in direct aid, the US State Department announced on Thursday that it will provide Ukraine and 18 neighboring countries with an additional US$2 billion in aid in the form of loans and subsidies to purchase US military equipment.
‘Good news’
The meeting at the Ramstein base, the fifth of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, is aimed at demonstrating the “unity and solidarity” of Ukraine’s allies, according to General Mark Milley, the US Chief of Staff.
Representatives from more than 40 countries and international organizations meet to address the weapons challenges posed by the conflict.
“Ammunition consumption is very important in this war,” said General Milley.
Artillery is decisive in combat. The Ukrainian and Russian armies face off in a war of attrition that consumes a lot of ammunition.
Last week, Ukraine launched a counterattack in the south of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said several times that he wants to liberate “all Russian-occupied territories”, including Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014.
On Thursday night, Zelensky said he had received “good news from the Kharkov region” where “the Ukrainian flag has returned” in the northeast, where it started flying.
Long after a semester of resisting invasion, the Ukrainian army launched counterattacks in the northeast and south, in the Kherson region, which, according to experts, could disrupt the supply routes of Russian troops.
Nevertheless, the Kremlin retains control over a large area of Ukrainian territory around Kharkiv, in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the Donbass mining basin, and on the coast of the Sea of Azov.
Ukraine has exhausted all its Russian-made weapons and its defense now depends entirely on Western military aid.
According to Washington, Russia turned to North Korea to purchase large quantities of rockets and artillery shells.
Children taken to Russia
Zelensky did not name the places re-conquered by Ukrainian troops, but the US-based Institute for War Studies, which monitors the war, said the Ukrainian counterattack took place near Balakliya.
The UN said on Wednesday there were “credible allegations” that Ukrainian children were forcibly taken to Russia in areas occupied by Russian forces.
Ilze Brands Kehris, UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, said during a briefing that some Ukrainians believed to be close to the Ukrainian government or army were also tortured and forcibly removed from the country and sent to Russian penal colonies and other detention centres. meeting.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, denied the accusations, which he described as “baseless”, saying that Ukrainians left their country “to rid themselves of the criminal regime”, which Moscow uses to refer to the Kyiv government.
source: Noticias
