Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said 31 M1 Abrams tanks promised to Ukraine will soon reach the battlefield, a development that officials in Kyiv have been eagerly anticipating for several months.
At the U.S. Air Base in Ramstein, Germany, Mr. Austin also urged dozens of allied defense ministers to produce more air defense and artillery ammunition that Ukraine’s forces desperately need on the battlefield. He said the United States would join other NATO members to train Ukraine’s pilots on F-16 fighter tactics.
He said the Abrams tanks would provide Ukraine with “another formidable armor capability” along with the German-made Leopard 2 armored vehicles. “This coalition of like-minded countries continues to move heaven and earth to get Ukraine what it needs right now,” Mr. Austin said Tuesday.
The plea for more armaments came as Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russian invaders moves slowly forward. Earlier in the day, Mr. Austin told the gathering of dozens of allies backing Kyiv that the U.S. felt confident its aid was being deployed effectively, a day after Ukraine’s government dismissed all six of its deputy defense ministers as part of an anti-corruption purge.
“We’re ensuring accountability of U.S. contributions through robust end-use monitoring,” Mr. Austin said in his opening remarks to the 15th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Ramstein, Germany. “We’ll continue to work closely with our Ukrainian partners to ensure that all assistance is used effectively and safeguarded.”
Mr. Austin also went out of his way to praise now-former Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, whom Mr. Zelenskyy had dismissed earlier this month as part of the ongoing purge that saw Monday’s firing of his immediate subordinates.
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“I want to start with a word of thanks to Oleksii Reznikov for his hard work and dedication, and for everything that he did for a free Ukraine in a secure world,” the U.S. defense secretary said before greeting Mr. Reznikov’s replacement, Rustem Umerov.
Mr. Austin said the U.S. is again ramping up its industrial base to counter Russian attacks against Ukraine.
“I challenge my fellow ministers to once again look into their stockpiles of 155mm ammunition and key air defense systems to ensure that we are all giving everything that we can to prepare Ukraine for the upcoming winter,” Mr. Austin said.
Ukrainian troops recaptured more than half of the territory lost during the initial Russian invasion in early 2022, Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Tuesday during a press conference. The general, who retires at the end of the month, said Ukraine’s combat priorities are air defense weapons, artillery and mechanized infantry.
Ukraine is unlikely to suspend combat operations against Russia after the end of the summer. Gen. Milley said Kyiv has the strategic initiative, and the Ukrainians intend to keep fighting.
“This is a tough, hard fight, and Ukraine is making slow, steady progress every single day,” he said. “They’ve liberated 54-plus percent of Ukraine, but there’s a lot left to go.”
The war continued to take its toll in Ukraine Tuesday. A massive Russian drone attack on the western city of Lviv early Tuesday, burning down a warehouse said to house humanitarian supplies and killing one man, Ukrainian authorities said. It was one of at least three deadly attacks in different cities, the Associated Press reported.
Ukraine intercepted most of the 30 Shahed drones in the nighttime assault on Lviv, but drones that got through air defense systems ignited an industrial storage facility, Gov. Maksym Kozytsky told the AP.
— This article was based in part on wire service reports.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.
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