‘We want to see Russia weakened’: Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says he wants Putin’s forces depleted so he cannot repeat what he has done in Ukraine during his Kyiv trip
- Austin said that the U.S. wanted ‘Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country, able to protect its sovereign territory’
- Austin did not call for a peace settlement but rather stepped up his rhetoric against Russia as the conflict enters its third month
- The US is providing $713million in assistance to war-ravaged Ukraine after a meeting with officials in Kyiv
- Zelensky was promised more than $322million in new foreign military financing by Blinken and Austin
- Ukraine will also receive $165million in non-U.S. made ammunition, they announced
- The US plans to gradually begin the return of diplomats to Ukraine next week but the embassy will stay closed
Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin said Monday that the U.S.’s ‘goal’ in Ukraine is to see Russia ‘weakened’ so it no longer has the capacity to invade its neighbors.
The secretary was asked by reporters to define ‘America’s goals for success.’
He said that the U.S. wanted ‘Ukraine remain a sovereign country, a democratic country, able to protect its sovereign territory.’
Speaking from an aircraft carrier in Poland, Austin added: ‘We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.’
Austin did not call for a peace settlement but rather stepped up his rhetoric against Russia as the conflict enters its third month and Ukraine launched offensive attacks into Russia over the weekend, when missile strikes blew up two oil storage facilities supplying Putin’s troops fighting for control of Donbas.
Austin said that U.S. officials believe Ukraine can win the conflict ‘if they have the right equipment’ and the ‘right support.’
The US has pledged another $713million for Ukraine as two top Biden officials visited Kyiv under the cover of darkness where they blasted Russia’s ‘failing’ invasion.
It brings the total amount of funding offered to Ukraine to $3.7 billion.
In the highest-level meeting between the US and Ukraine since the war, Antony Blinken and Lloyd Austin took a train from Poland to Kyiv where they met with Volodymyr Zelensky in an overnight trip shrouded by secrecy.
Speaking from an aircraft carrier in Poland, Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin said: ‘We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine.’
There, the officials pledged military financing to Ukraine and its NATO partners and said diplomats would start returning to the country this week, although they will be stationed in Lviv rather than the Kyiv embassy which remains closed.
At the meeting, Blinken said, ‘Russia is failing, Ukraine is succeeding,’ and praised Zelensky and his country’s bravery in the face of Kremlin barbarism.
Speaking today in Poland near the Ukrainian border, the Secretary of State said: ‘We had an opportunity to demonstrate directly our strong ongoing support for the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people. This was, in our judgment, an important moment to be there to have face-to-face conversations in detail.’
Austin added Zelensky’s response to the aid was deep appreciation for what was being given but ‘he has the mindset that they want to win and we have the mindset that we want to help them win’.
Journalists who travelled to Poland with Austin and Blinken were barred from reporting on the trip until it ended, were not allowed to accompany them on their overland journey into Ukraine, and were prohibited from specifying where in south-east Poland they waited for the Cabinet members to return, citing security concerns.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pose for a picture during their meeting in Kyiv
The Secretaries of State and Defense accused Russia of failing in its barbaric invasion as they boosted Ukraine’s war chest
Volodymyr Zelensky shakes hands with Lieutenant General Randy George, Military Assistant to U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
Austin said Zelensky’s response to the aid was deep appreciation for what was being given but ‘he has the mindset that they want to win and we have the mindset that we want to help them win’
Speaking in Poland after returning from the meeting (pictured), Austin and Blinken said US diplomats returning to Ukraine are likely to restaff the consulate in Lviv
Austin added Zelensky’s response to the aid was deep appreciation for what was being given but ‘he has the mindset that they want to win and we have the mindset that we want to help them win’
Just after the overnight visit, Russia bombed railway stations in the Lviv, Rivne, Vinnyista and Kyiv regions in the early hours in a warning to the West.
Their meeting is thought to have taken place between 10pm and 1am local time before they returned to Poland, with Blinken telling journalists afterwards that the delegation travelled by rail.
The strike on Krasne appears to have targeted the main line from Poland into Ukraine, though Blinken and Austin’s exact route has not been revealed.
At the meeting, Austin and Mr Blinken announced a total of $713million in foreign military financing for Ukraine and 15 allied and partner countries; some $322million of that is earmarked for Kyiv.
The remainder will be split among NATO members and other nations that have provided Ukraine with critical military supplies since the war with Russia began, officials said.
Such financing is different from previous US military assistance for Ukraine. It is not a donation of drawn-down US Defence Department stockpiles, but rather cash that countries can use to purchase supplies that they might need.
The new money, along with the sale of $165million in non-US made ammunition that is compatible with Soviet-era weapons the Ukrainians use, takes the total amount of American military assistance to Ukraine to $3.7billion since the invasion, officials said.
In footage of the meeting later released by the Ukrainian presidency, Blinken praised the ‘extraordinary courage and leadership and success that you’ve had in pushing back this horrific Russian aggression.’
‘We got used to seeing you on video around the world, but it’s great, it’s good to see you in person,’ Blinken said with a smile.
Austin said that ‘the world has been inspired’ by Ukraine in the war and that America would continue its support.
‘The strategy that we’ve put in place – massive support for Ukraine, massive pressure against Russia, solidarity with more than 30 countries engaged in these efforts – is having real results,’ Blinken said.
Austin said in Poland today after the meeting: ‘The first step in winning is believing that you can win. And so they believe that we can win.
Journalists who travelled to Poland with Austin and Blinken were barred from reporting on the trip until it ended, were not allowed to accompany them on their overland journey into Ukraine, and were prohibited from specifying where in south-east Poland they waited for the Cabinet members to return
Austin said that ‘the world has been inspired’ by Ukraine in the war and that America would continue its support
The meeting was the highest-ranking visit by a US delegation to the war-torn nation since Russia began its invasion 60 days ago
Zelensky in the meeting said he was ‘very thankful’ for the American aid and particularly praised President Joe Biden for his ‘personal support’
US officials said they believed the new assistance would satisfy at least some of the Ukrainians’ urgent pleas for more military aid
‘We believe that we can win, they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support.
‘We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,’ Austin said.
Russia ‘has already lost a lot of military capability. And a lot of its troops quite frankly, and we want to see them not have the capability to very quickly reproduce that capability,’ he said.
On the diplomatic front, Blinken told Zelensky that Biden will announce his nomination of veteran diplomat Bridget Brink to be the next US ambassador to Ukraine.
A career foreign service officer, Brink has served since 2019 as ambassador to Slovakia. She previously held assignments in Serbia, Cyprus, Georgia and Uzbekistan as well as with the White House National Security Council. The post requires Senate confirmation.
For his part, Zelensky in the meeting said he was ‘very thankful’ for the American aid and particularly praised President Joe Biden for his ‘personal support.’
‘The priorities are weapons and support from the United States of America and our partners, European leaders, in terms of our army’s strength and support in certain areas,’ the Ukrainian president said. ‘The second issue is the sanctions policy against the Russian Federation because of the full-scale invasion and all the terror they have committed in Ukraine.’
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin speak with reporters in Poland near the Ukraine border
Blinken boards a plane to return to Washington today from Poland after the secretive trip to Kyiv yesterday
In giving new military assistance, the US is renewing a diplomatic push in the war-ravaged nation
During Sunday’s meeting, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin revealed US diplomats would gradually return to Ukraine. However, the US Embassy in Kyiv (pictured in January 2022) will remain closed for the moment
Sunday’s visit also came one day after UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson vowed to reopen the British Embassy in Kyiv. The embassy is pictured in January 2022
The three-hour meeting came Sunday, the 60th day since the start of the invasion, as Ukraine pressed the West for more powerful weapons against Russia’s campaign in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Moscow’s forces sought to dislodge the last Ukrainian troops in the battered port city of Mariupol.
The financing is different from previous U.S. military assistance for Ukraine. It is not a donation of drawn-down U.S. Defense Department stockpiles, but rather cash that countries can use to purchase supplies that they might need.
The new money, along with the sale of $165million in non-U.S. made ammunition that is compatible with Soviet-era weapons the Ukrainians use, brings the total amount of American military assistance to Ukraine to $3.7billion since the invasion.
New artillery, including howitzers, continues to be delivered at a rapid pace to Ukraine’s military, which is being trained on its use in neighboring countries, the officials said.
More than 50 Ukrainians are set to complete training on Monday to operate the heavy artillery that Washington has begun sending to Ukraine in recent weeks.
Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, a post that had remained vacant for more than two years
The visit also revealed that U.S. diplomats will gradually return to Kyiv by initially resume ‘day trips’ across the border to Lviv in the coming week.
Officials are accelerating planning to return to the Kyiv mission, the State Department official said.
‘There’s no substitute for that face-to-face engagement, and of course there is a symbolism to being back in the country,’ said the official, who briefed reporters in Poland on condition of anonymity.
U.S. diplomats departed the Kyiv embassy nearly two weeks before the Feb. 24 invasion, moving some functions to the western city of Lviv before eventually relocating to Poland.
The official also said that on Monday Biden will formally nominate Bridget Brink, currently U.S. ambassador to Slovakia, as U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, a post that had remained vacant for more than two years.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby (left), US Army lieutenant general John Kolasheski (center) and US Army Major General Christopher LaNeve (right) are pictured speaking with reporters in Poland near the Ukrainian border on Sunday
Blinken and Austin traveled to Poland on Saturday then overland into Ukraine on Sunday, where they met with Zelensky and other top Ukrainian officials, a senior State Department official said, declining to discuss in detail their travel or security arrangements.
Zelensky announced the trip himself during a news conference on Saturday, which U.S. officials said was a contingency they had planned for and did not derail the visit.
Blinken and Austin had planned to meet Zelensky, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and other officials for 90 minutes but the discussions took three hours.
The American president has made no such-attempt to show solidarity with his own in-person visit, and his press secretary Jen Psaki has said there are no plans for the 79-year-old to travel.
Sunday’s visit also came after Boris Johnson vowed to reopen the UK’s embassy in Kyiv following the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Ukrainian capital.
In a series of tweets Saturday, the prime minister also said Britain will provide the country with ‘further military aid’, including armored vehicles.
The Conservative leader then warned Putin’s regime that his government will be collecting evidence on potential ‘war crimes’, saying Russia must be ‘held to account’.
He wrote: ‘Today I spoke with President @ZelenskyyUa to update him on the latest steps the UK is taking to support Ukraine.
‘We are providing further military aid, including protected mobility vehicles. We have issued new sanctions against members of the Russian military.
‘We will be reopening our embassy in Kyiv, demonstrating our solidarity with the Ukrainian people. And the UK government is helping to collect evidence of war crimes. Russia must be held to account for its actions.’
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