US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said today that the Ukrainian military counteroffensive against Russian forces “continues to make steady progress” during the opening of a meeting of Ukrainian allies in Germany.
Austin also announced that American Abrams tanks, promised to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier this year, will “soon enter Ukraine.”
These tanks will be equipped with depleted uranium ammunition supplied by the United States, according to an announcement Washington made in September. This ammunition can penetrate armored vehicles, but is controversial due to its toxic risks to the military and the population.
The international meeting, taking place at the North American Ramstein base in southern Germany, brings together about 50 countries to coordinate military assistance against the Russian invasion.
This is the first meeting attended by the new Ukrainian Defense Minister, Rustem Umerov, who was appointed at the beginning of this month.
His predecessor Oleksiï Reznikov, one of the faces of the Ukrainian resistance, had to leave his post after several corruption scandals in his ministry.
“Rousem, I really want to work closely with you and your team, and I know everyone here does too,” Lloyd Austin said at the opening of the meeting.
A US defense official said before the meeting that this is an opportunity “to hear from Secretary Umerov himself what his vision and priority are” for the war.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Western countries have donated many types of weapons to Kiev based on the evolution of the battle.
The European Union and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) countries have already pledged almost 95 billion euros in military aid, according to data released at the end of July by the Kiel Institute, which lists the weapons promised and delivered to Ukraine since the war. invasion.
Source: DN
