The more than 50 countries gathered in the support contact group for Ukraine stressed on Thursday the importance of continuing to provide Kiev with air defenses, ammunition and the necessary maintenance of the tanks and other equipment provided while the Ukrainian counter-offensive to regain ground from the Russians take their first steps.
“It will continue to be a tough battle, just as we anticipated, and I think the element that does best in terms of maintenance will probably have the upper hand at the end,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference. at the end of the thirteenth meeting of this group that he chaired, held at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
The Secretary General of the Atlantic Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, agreed upon his arrival at the meeting that Ukraine “needs many different types of support, but perhaps most of the attention will focus, or has focused, and will continue to focus, on the importance of maintenance.
Specifically, “in making sure that all the systems that are already there work as they should, that is, that they have the ammunition, spare parts, maintenance and repair capacity to operate and sustain themselves throughout the entire offensive.” “, argued the Norwegian politician.
Austin referred to Ukraine’s losses of vehicles and equipment on the battlefield: “This is a war. So we know there will be damage on both sides. The important thing is that the Ukrainians can recover the damaged material, repair it if possible and return it to combat,” he said.
“I think the Russians have shown us the same five vehicles about a thousand times from ten different angles, but frankly, the Ukrainians still have a lot of combat capability,” he said of images of destroyed Ukrainian main battle tanks released by Russia.
The head of the Pentagon also assured that they are focused on “meeting Ukraine’s urgent needs” in terms of ground-to-air air defense systems.
“This is especially important given that Russia has ruthlessly increased its missile and drone attacks over the past month against cities in Ukraine,” he told a news conference.
In today’s meeting, the Netherlands and Denmark detailed how the initiative they lead to train Ukrainian pilots in the handling of fourth-generation combat aircraft, including the US F-16, is progressing.
In addition, Germany and Poland informed about the next steps for the maintenance of the Leopard tanks ceded to Ukraine.
Just two days ago, the United States announced a new $325 million military aid package to Ukraine that includes Javelin anti-tank missiles, munitions for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), which are long-range, and 15 Bradley Fighting Vehicles.
It also includes 155 and 105mm ammunition and shells for NASAMS surface-to-air systems.
The previous week, Washington had reported the shipment of another $2.1 billion security assistance package for kyiv with anti-aircraft defenses and ammunition.
Canada has committed another $500 million to support air defenses and Denmark will give about $2.6 billion in military aid through 2024, Austin summarized.
“We can be sure that this contact group has given Ukraine the tools it needs to succeed,” US Chief of Staff General Mark Milley said at the same news conference.
The counter-offensive “is in the early stages and it is too early to make definitive assessments. But I can tell you that every day the Ukrainians show the courage and tenacity necessary to methodically retake their territory,” he said.
Milley also felt that it would be “very premature” to estimate how long the Ukrainian counteroffensive could last, noting that there are “several hundred thousand Russian soldiers” along the front lines, but Ukraine has begun its attacks and is making “steady advances.” .
For his part, the Ukrainian Defense Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, who also participated in a NATO-Ukraine Commission, acknowledged that today he heard “very important news about the coalition of combat aircraft”, in reference to the countries that have committed to train pilots from the former Soviet republic in handling F-16 fighters.
“Today we got the commitment from our partners that the training courses will start and together we will develop the construction of this consortium of combat aircraft. It will start with the F-16, with Denmark and the Netherlands as leaders, and other countries will join,” commented.
He also said he received “good news” from Sweden that Ukraine will be able to test capabilities.
The defense ministers of the NATO countries will continue their meeting on Friday to discuss their deterrence and defense plans.
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