US and allies must stay focused on Ukraine during ‘pivotal’ moment, Pentagon chief says
- ‘We cannot afford to let up and we cannot lose steam. The stakes are too high,’ US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said at meeting of dozens of defence ministers
- Western countries have promised Nato-standard weapons and Ukraine will require consistent support to transition to the new supplies and systems
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was at a “pivotal” moment and the United States and its allies could not lose focus on the three-month long conflict, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday during a meeting of dozens of defence ministers in Brussels.
The meeting on the sidelines of a Nato defence ministerial will focus on weapon deliveries to Ukraine and is the third time the group of nearly 50 countries are meeting to discuss and coordinate help to Ukraine. The previous in-person meeting was at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in April.
Ukraine needs 1,000 howitzers, 500 tanks and 1,000 drones among other heavy weapons, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said on Monday. Western countries have promised Nato-standard weapons, including advanced US rockets.
But deploying them is taking time, and Ukraine will require consistent Western support to transition to new supplies and systems as stocks dwindle of their Soviet-era weapons and munitions.
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“We cannot afford to let up and we cannot lose steam. The stakes are too high,” Austin said at the start of the meeting in Brussels.