The United States “will not let Ukraine down,” US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised in Germany on Tuesday. Due to the reluctance of Republican elected officials supporting former President Donald Trump, American aid amounting to more than 60 billion euros is still blocked in Congress.
The United States “will not let Ukraine down”, American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin promised in Germany on Tuesday, despite the blocking of American aid in Congress in a context of shortage of weapons for the troops of Kiev. Due to the reluctance of Republican elected officials supporting former President Donald Trump, American aid amounting to more than 60 billion euros is still blocked in Congress.
“315,000 Russian soldiers were killed or wounded”
In this context, the White House warned that an envelope of 300 million dollars (274 million euros) for Ukraine announced last week would only be enough for a few weeks. “We are determined to provide Ukraine with all the resources it needs to resist Russian aggression,” Lloyd Austin told reporters. He was speaking at the opening of a meeting of the contact group of Ukraine’s allies, tasked with coordinating military support for the country, at the US Ramstein Air Base in Germany. The $300 million in aid announced by Washington was only possible thanks to savings made on recent Pentagon purchases, according to Lloyd Austin.
The latter also estimated that “at least 315,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or injured” since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. A figure which had already been mentioned at the end of last year. Moscow thus “wasted up to $211 billion to equip, deploy, maintain and support its imperial aggression against Ukraine,” he said. Washington remains by far the largest donor of military aid to kyiv, having pledged tens of billions of dollars since the Russian offensive began in February 2022.