United States President Joe Biden will hold a meeting with the country’s top military commanders at the White House today as they plan to expand arms sales to Ukraine in light of the Russian military operation.
The meeting, which will be attended by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other senior officials, will discuss a “variety of issues,” a Security Council spokesman said.
This is a regular annual military-political meeting, but it now has particular relevance due to the conflict in Ukraine, in which Washington has no direct involvement, but adds fuel to the fire, according to observers, with arms transfers, training and funding the Kiev Armed Forces. .
The Biden administration is preparing another military aid package for Ukraine worth about $800 million, similar to the one announced last week, NBC News reported.
Washington’s goal is to send more artillery shells to Ukrainian forces after Moscow announced the start of a new phase of the offensive in Ukraine’s Donbass region.
The day before, Biden had attended a video conference with leaders from eight other countries and insisted on imposing “heavy economic costs” on Russia on the one hand and maintaining arms transfers to Ukraine on the other.
Ukrainians likely need more artillery systems, and the United States will do whatever it takes to meet their needs, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.
For its part, the Russian government insists that military aid to President Vladimir Zelenskyy’s forces will not facilitate the end of the operation.