US officials Lloyd Austin (Secretary of Defense, foreground, from behind) and Antony Blinken (Secretary of State, to his left) during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy April 24, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. PA
It’s a bit of music that the American base in Ramstein, Germany, hasn’t heard in a long time. Protocol receptions, NATO banners and the reception of some forty countries gathered on Tuesday, April 26 to “add additional capacity to the Ukrainian armed forces,” according to Lloyd Austin, US Secretary of Defense. “They can win if they have the right equipment and the right support,” said the Pentagon chief, organizer of the event, which came after a trip to Kyiv where he pledged additional support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the war against Russia .
Also read: Article reserved for our subscribers War in Ukraine: American diplomatic and defense chiefs on a discreet visit to Kyiv
In this regard, the United States announced on Monday a new $700 million in military aid to Ukraine, bringing its aid to $3.4 billion. Washington is now deploying heavy weapons to counter Russian forces concentrated in eastern and southern Ukraine after failing to take Kyiv. Mr Austin said he wanted “Russia to be so weakened that it will be unable to invade another country”.
According to British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, Russia has already lost “about 15,000 troops” to date, a figure that independent sources cannot verify. Russia has not collected a toll since March 25, when it claimed it had lost 1,351 soldiers.
President Zelensky himself believed that Ukraine’s victory was only a matter of time. “Thanks to the courage, wisdom of our defenders, thanks to the courage of all Ukrainians, all Ukrainian women, our country is a symbol of the struggle for freedom,” he announced in his speech on Monday evening.
Sergey Lavrov’s threats
As the war in Ukraine creates unprecedented tensions between Russia and the West, the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, threatens to escalate the conflict into a world war. “The danger is serious, it is real, it must not be underestimated,” he said. The Russian military said it hit around 100 targets in Ukraine on Monday, including railway installations in the center of the country.
Also read: Articles for our subscribers Vladimir Putin, the war cult
For its part, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense indicated that the Russian army is continuing to strengthen its anti-aircraft defenses to compensate for losses related to the previous offensive and to bombard infrastructure. According to the same source, Moscow troops are regrouping in the south and, with losses, are attempting to advance toward Zaporiya, a town on the Dnieper west of Donbass.
Moscow has revealed its aim of seizing the entire Donbass, a large industrial basin in eastern Ukraine – partly controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014 – and taking full control of the south of the country, which is also the site of daily fighting. particularly in the Mariupol sector.