Austin kicks off Ramstein video conference meeting
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday officially opened the meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which this month is being held in the video conference format.
The head of the Pentagon addressed the participants with an opening speech, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.
The U.S. Secretary of Defense emphasized that the United States, as well as the entire international coalition, which includes naerly 50 allies and partners, remain committed to supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
“Putin continues to sacrifice staggering numbers of Russian troops in his rash and reckless war of choice. And Putin hopes that missiles and drones will demoralize the Ukrainian people, and break the fighting spirit of the Ukrainian military. So I urge this group to dig deep to provide Ukraine with more lifesaving ground-based air-defense systems and interceptors.," Austin said.
"If we lose our nerve, if we flinch, if we fail to deter other would-be aggressors, we will only invite even more bloodshed and chaos," Austin said.
Thus, a sovereign and secure Ukraine is critical to global security, he emphasized.
"And we must not waver in our support for Ukraine," the head of the Pentagon added, recalling that on December 27, the United States announced an aid package in the amount of $250 million to meet Ukraine’s urgent security needs.
The United States continues to work on monitoring and accounting for American aid to Ukraine, the secretary noted. "We have seen no credible evidence of the misuse or illicit diversion of American equipment provided to Ukraine," he said.
Austin thanked allies and partners who had already announced new long-term security assistance packages for Ukraine. He named Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UL in this regard. "Taken together, these commitments will amount to billions of dollars in additional military aid for Ukraine," Austin noted.
He emphasized that the U.S. remains committed to "strengthening Ukraine’s defense industrial base, both to intensify Ukraine’s current fight and to boost its long-term deterrence."
In addition, Austin thanked members of the “capability coalition”, which includes Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Lithuania, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK.
"Together, our allies and partners have established six capability coalitions to support Ukraine's air force, ground-based air defenses, artillery, maritime security, de-mining, and information technology," he explained, recalling that the United States, together with France, leads the artillery coalition, as well as a air force coalition, together with Denmark and the Netherlands.
As Ukrinform reported earlier, the Ramstein-format meeting is taking place against the backdrop of lingering uncertainty in U.S. Congress, which is yet to find a compromise on border security issues before agreeing to President Joe Biden’s supplemental national security assistance request. The request contains, among other things, more than $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.
Photo: AA