2023-11-20 21:09:00
Mr. Zelensky called the Pentagon chief’s visit “a very important signal.” “We are counting on your support,” he said. KEYSTONE/EPA/PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE HANDOUT sda-ats
This content was published on November 20, 2023 – 10:09 p.m. November 20, 2023 – 10:09 p.m.
(Keystone-ATS)
Washington announced new military aid for Ukraine worth $100 million on Monday, including anti-aircraft defense assets, on the day of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s visit to Kiev.
This new aid comes from funds already approved by the American Congress but which are dwindling pending the vote of a new budgetary envelope for Ukraine requested by President Joe Biden, but which remains on hold due to the opposition from Republican elected officials.
It includes Himars systems, artillery ammunition and anti-tank weapons, as well as small caliber munitions, according to press releases from the Pentagon and the State Department.
Lloyd Austin assured Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky of Washington’s continued support in the face of the Russian invasion.
The United States is by far the main supplier of military aid to Kiev, and a reduction in its support, ardently demanded by some elected Republicans, would deal a severe blow to Ukrainian efforts to liberate the occupied South and East of the country.
“The message I bring to you today, Mr. President, is that the United States is with you and will remain with you for a long time,” declared Lloyd Austin during a meeting with the Ukrainian head of state.
“Together with our allies and partners, we will continue to support Ukraine’s urgent needs on the battlefield and its long-term defense requirements,” the official, who was also scheduled to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart, added on X Rustem Umerov and the commander of the armed forces Valery Zaluzhny.
Mr. Zelensky called the Pentagon chief’s visit “a very important signal.” “We are counting on your support,” he said.
Ukraine is striving to guarantee the continuation of European and American assistance, while voices in the West are being raised to demand a reduction in this support, following almost two years of war.
In addition, with the international community focused on the war between Israel and Hamas, kyiv wants to prevent the support received so far from diminishing.
Russian assault on Avdiivka
The arrival of Mr. Austin comes at a time when in the United States, in the Republican camp, voices are being raised once morest the tens of billions in aid to Ukraine released by the Democratic administration of Joe Biden.
Western support is all the more crucial for Ukraine as its summer counter-offensive to liberate the occupied territories has largely failed.
Russia went on the offensive once more in the east in October, and Kiev says that Moscow also intends to resume its winter bombing campaign to plunge millions of Ukrainians into the cold and the dark.
Each day continues to bring its litany of deaths and injuries.
In Kherson, a large southern city shelled by the Russian army, the bombing of a parking lot left two dead and two injured, according to the regional administration.
In Nikopol (South-East), an 83-year-old woman was killed and a 53-year-old man injured by artillery fire, according to the authorities.
Near Kherson, one of the important axes of the Ukrainian counter-offensive where Kiev’s troops managed to gain a foothold on the left bank of the Dnieper River, occupied by the Russians, Ukrainian forces “continue to hold”, indicated the Ukrainian General Staff.
In the East, it is the Russian army which is continuing “its attempts to encircle Avdiïvka”, an industrial city in the Donetsk region targeted in recent weeks by intense attacks, according to the same source.
No competition
For Ukraine, Western aid, particularly American, is essential to face a Russia which has turned its budget and its economy towards the war effort.
Some American legislators from the Republican camp, however, are opposed to the continuation of the aid, enough to fuel doubt as to the scale and sustainability of American support in the months to come. A new extension was thus excluded from a budget agreement adopted by Congress last week.
In addition to internal political opposition in the United States to continued aid, the conflict between Israel and Hamas is distracting attention from Ukraine.
However, Washington claims to be able to provide assistance to the Ukrainians and Israelis.
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