Ukraine is using the opportunities provided to protect itself from Russian aggression.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin
that Ukraine is illegal transferred American weapons to third parties or misused them. American Defense Minister Lloyd Austin announced this at a meeting in the Ramstein format, quoting him from the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
“We see that Ukraine is using the opportunities we provide to defend against Russian aggression,” Lloyd Austin emphasized. He said the United States continues to work hard to monitor and report on U.S. assistance provided to Ukraine.
The Defense Secretary stressed that allies must continue to focus on both Ukraine's immediate battlefield needs and long-term assistance to support and modernize our defense forces.
The US Secretary of Defense thanked countries that have already announced new long-term support packages since the previous Contact Group meeting – in particular, Estonia, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
“Support” “Ukraine, in its fight against tyranny, makes all our countries safer. A sovereign and secure Ukraine is critical to global security,” added Lloyd Austin.
Online meeting of the 18th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in format “Ramstein” began on Tuesday. The Ukrainian delegation is headed by Minister of Defense Rustem Umerov.
- This month, the Pentagon already reported that to date there is no credible evidence that the advanced conventional weapons that the United States transferred to Ukraine fell into the wrong hands.
- A recent report from the U.S. Department of Defense inspector general found that U.S. officials did not properly record or track nearly $1 billion in military aid sent to Ukraine. Inspector General Robert Storch found that while accounting practices have improved since the Russian invasion began, as of June 2023, tracking of more than half of U.S.-supplied Javelins, Stinger missiles, night vision goggles and other defense items subject to enhanced accounting was lacking. remained uncomplied. This does not mean that these weapons were used for other purposes, but that the Americans did not comply with the monitoring procedure. The report does not allege that any weapons were misused. It says that “determining whether such assistance has been diverted is beyond the scope of our assessment.” Administration officials also emphasized that the report is based on data that is more than six months old and argued that rigorous requirements for enhanced end-use monitoring are often impractical during active conflict.
- Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba assured that everything the weapons provided by the Americans to fight for the Ukrainians will be used “with the best goal so that this assistance ends in the victory of Ukraine as quickly as possible.”