Austin assures Ukrainian counterpart Umerov of certain U.S. support for further aid to Ukraine

During the latest conversation, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin assured Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov of “100 percent” support for providing aid to the Ukrainian state.

Umerov told about this in an interview with Suspilne, Ukrinform reports.

He emphasized that Russian fake news that the United States or the European Union have refused to continue donating assistance to Ukraine is false.

"When we talk about the United States, there are several issues that are not related to Ukraine. There is a domestic issue of the wall on the border with Mexico, which they are discussing. This is how it happens here in the Verkhovna Rada: if you do not have enough votes, you need to reach out to other factions and come to an agreement but these factions also need to update something. Our latest conversation with the Secretary of Defense of the United States saw that there is 100 percent support on the issue of Ukraine, it will be done according to the procedure they are currently discussing. He emphasized that the support will continue – that is the main thing," emphasized Umerov.

The Minister of Defense noted that the Ukrainian authorities are developing a defense plan, discussing the issue with partners, and planning to continue cooperation. "The question of support, financial or otherwise, will be constant until we restart our economy, which, unfortunately, isn’t delivering the volumes we need. This is the dynamic from which we started: nothing is static. Some tools, equipment either comes late, or they are out of stock, or will come later. These are operational issues, regarding which we are in constant contact with them. And we always send a signal to the internal circuit that support is coming, but we must look at efficiency and productivity," he added.

As Ukrinform reported earlier, the chief of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, said that supporting Ukraine in repelling Russian aggression will only strengthen the security of the United States, as well as of the entire democratic world.