U.S. Protection Secretary Lloyd Austin mentioned on September 6 that no single navy weapon will likely be decisive for Ukraine to defeat Russia’s full-scale invasion and that using donated U.S. weapons for long-range strikes into Russia wouldn’t flip the tide of the warfare in Ukraine’s favor.
Talking after a gathering of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group on the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Austin informed reporters that Russia had moved its glide bombs again to positions past the vary of U.S.-made Military Tactical Missile Techniques (ATACMS).
He additionally famous that Ukraine itself had vital capabilities to assault targets properly past the vary of the British Storm Shadow cruise missile.
Austin made the feedback after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy personally appealed to the group for extra weapons assist from its Western allies and referred to as on allies to permit Ukraine to make use of the weapons they offered to strike deeper inside Russia.
“We have to have this long-range functionality, not solely on the divided territory of Ukraine but additionally on Russian territory in order that Russia is motivated to hunt peace,” Zelenskiy mentioned on the assembly with high U.S. navy leaders and greater than 50 companion international locations.
“We have to make Russian cities and even Russian troopers take into consideration what they want: peace or Putin,” he informed the gathering hosted by Austin.
Russian forces have made positive factors in jap Ukraine across the metropolis of Pokrovsk, an important provide hub for the Ukrainian navy. Moscow’s navy positive factors have continued regardless of a shock cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russia’s Kursk area final month.
Kyiv claims its military has captured about 1,300 kilometers of Russian territory and killed or wounded about 6,000 Russian troopers.
Whereas the incursion has put Russia on the defensive, “we all know Putin’s malice runs deep,” Austin mentioned in remarks to the media forward of the assembly. Russian forces proceed to press on, particularly round Pokrovsk, Austin mentioned.
Austin annnounced a brand new $250 million safety help bundle on the assembly, saying it can present “extra capabilities to satisfy Ukraine’s evolving necessities.”
The help consists of ammunition for Excessive-Mobility Artillery Rocket Techniques (HIMARS) and anti-tank and antiaircraft weapons.
Stay Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
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Since 2022, the member states of the Ukraine Protection Contact Group collectively have offered about $106 billion in safety help to Kyiv. The US, Ukraine’s greatest supporter throughout the battle, has offered greater than $56 billion of that complete, in accordance with Pentagon.
Zelenskiy met later with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Frankfurt, and the 2 leaders mentioned preparations for the second summit on peace in Ukraine.
“I enormously recognize sharing our efforts to carry a simply peace nearer,” Zelenskiy mentioned on X.
Protection Minister Boris Pistorius mentioned Germany will provide Ukraine with 12 extra self-propelled howitzers valued at 150 million euros. Half of them will arrive by the tip of the yr and the rest will observe in 2025. They’ve a firing vary of 30 kilometers.
“Germany’s place is totally clear: We’ll assist Ukraine for so long as it’s vital,” Pistorius mentioned. “It is very important defend the liberty, sovereignty and territorial integrity of sovereign states in opposition to aggressors equivalent to Russia. Finally, we’re additionally doing this in our personal pursuits.”
Because the allied companions met, Russia continued its persistent drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and areas. At the least 5 folks have been wounded within the newest Russian assaults throughout Ukraine, Kyiv mentioned on September 6, including that air defenses shot down 27 out of 44 Russian drones launched in a single day.
A missile assault within the morning on September 6 broken residential buildings and injured three folks within the northeastern Kharkiv area, native authorities mentioned.
In a single day assaults wounded two folks, broken a minimum of 12 houses, and impacted energy strains and fuel pipelines within the central Dnipropetrovsk area, officers mentioned. Falling particles from a downed Shahed drone within the western Lviv area prompted a fireplace at a warehouse, destroying 4 autos, in accordance with native authorities.