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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin called on Kyiv’s allies on Thursday to “dig deep” to provide more arms and ammunition to fight Russia’s attack on Ukraine, particularly for air defenses.
Addressing a meeting of defense ministers from the U.S.-led Contact Group of some 50 countries that send weapons and ammunition to Ukraine, Austin stressed Kyiv needed both short-term and long-term support as the conflict was a “marathon, not a sprint.”
At the meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Austin hailed the group’s prior deliveries of Patriot, IRIS-T and NASAMS air defense systems as having protected Ukraine from Russian missile attacks. But he said Ukraine needed even more.
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“I ask that the members of this Contact Group continue to dig deep to provide Ukraine with the air defense assets and munitions that it so urgently needs to protect its citizens,” Austin said. “We’ll also continue to adapt our assistance to meet the changing circumstances on the ground in the changing needs of Ukraine’s forces.”
It was the 13th meeting of the contact group, which Washington set up last year to coordinate western aid for Kyiv.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov attended the meeting and was expected to brief his counterparts on Ukraine’s counteroffensive to retake more territory from Russian forces. The campaign is expected to use hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles supplied by the West.
Later in the day, NATO defense ministers will meet separately with Reznikov to discuss their support for Kyiv.
The meeting comes as NATO members are engaged in intense discussions over Ukraine’s desire to join the alliance and long-term plans to assure the country’s security after the conflict ends.
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