WASHINGTON: US officials said that Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov will hold talks with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington today on firming up defense cooperation between the two sides.
Pentagon said that Secretary Austin and Minister Umerov will hold talks on bilateral defense cooperation, regional security matters and means to strengthen the defense partnership between the Washington and Kyiv.
The talks come following Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky renewed his request to Kyiv’s allies over the weekend for more arms following a Russian air strike in Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine killed around seven people.
The United States is the largest provider of military help to Kyiv in the war that Russia launched against its neighbor with a full-scale invasion in 2022. Biden’s administration has provided Kyiv with over $50 billion in military assistance since 2022.
Last week, Biden’s administration stated that it would provide Ukraine with $150 million worth of arms and ammunition, including HAWK air defense interceptors and 155 mm artillery weaponries.
In a video message, President Zelensky said that the sooner the world helps them deal with the Russian combat aircraft launching these bombs, the sooner they can strike – justifiably strike – at Russian military infrastructure, military airfields, the closer they will be to peace.
But after two years of Ukraine’s asking allies for F-16 jets to assist it fight Russian troops, the planes are yet to arrive.
Singh refused to answer at the briefing when Kyiv would start receiving the fighter jets, but stated that the training of Ukrainian pilots on how to operate the planes is “ongoing.”
