Zelensky and Austin say military aid to Ukraine must continue under Trump
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III used their final meeting Thursday to press the incoming Trump administration to not give up on Kyiv’s fight, warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”
“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Zelensky said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”
Austin also announced that the U.S. would send another $500 million in security assistance to Ukraine, including missiles for fighter jets, maintenance equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems and small arms and ammunition.
The weapons are funded through presidential drawdown authority, meaning they can be pulled directly from U.S. stockpiles, and the Pentagon is pushing to get them to Ukraine before the end of the month.
Ukraine will be given what it requires ‘to fight for its survival and security,’ U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III says in a speech in Kyiv.
Ukraine is in the midst of launching a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating position possible before President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Zelensky called the Kursk offensive “one of our biggest wins” that has cost Russia and North Korea, which sent soldiers to help Russia in Kursk, thousands of troops. Zelensky said the offensive resulted in North Korea suffering 4,000 casualties, but U.S. estimates put the number lower at about 1,200.
Zelensky said Ukraine will continue to need air defense systems and munitions to defend against Russia’s missile attacks.
The latest U.S. package leaves about $3.85 billion in funding to provide future arms shipments to Ukraine. If the Biden administration makes no further announcements, that balance will be available to Trump to send if he chooses.
“If [Vladimir] Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin, referring to the Russian leader, told the approximately 50 member nations who have been meeting periodically over the last three years to coordinate weapons and military support for Ukraine. “If autocrats conclude that democracies will lose their nerve, surrender their interests and forget their principles, we will only see more land grabs. If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos and war.”
Dozens of partner countries will participate in the meeting of the Ramstein group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Ukraine’s president says, and he will press for aid.
In the two months since Trump’s election victory, Europe has grappled with what the change in U.S. leadership will mean in terms of their fight to keep Russia from further advancing, and whether the post-World War II western alliance will hold.
In recent days, Trump has threatened to take Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — a NATO member — by military means if necessary. Such action would upend all norms of the historic NATO alliance and possibly require members to come to the defense of Denmark due to U.S. aggression.
Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius called Trump’s comments “diplomatically astonishing.”
“Alliances are alliances, to stay alliances, regardless of who is governing countries,” he said. “I’m quite optimistic that remarks like that won’t really influence U.S. politics after the 20th of January.”
There are also questions as to whether there will be a future meeting of the 50-member Ukraine Defense Contact Group, or whether it will assume a new shape under one of its major European contributors, such as Germany.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says President-elect Donald Trump is “strong and unpredictable” and that he can not end the war in one day as claimed.
If the U.S. does not come back to the table to assist Ukraine, Pistorius said, Germany and several other European countries are discussing options. Pistorius said he intends to travel to the U.S. shortly after Trump’s inauguration to meet his new counterpart to discuss the issue.
“It’s clear a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” Zelensky said. “A time when we will have to cooperate even more, rely on one another even more and achieve even greater results together.”
Globally, countries including the U.S. have ramped up domestic weapons production as the Ukraine war exposed how inadequate those stockpiles were for a major conventional land war.
The U.S. has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80% and 90% — already to Ukraine.
“Retreat will only provide incentives for more imperial aggression,” Austin told the group. “And if we flinch, you can count on Putin to push further and punch harder. Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is the security of Europe, the United States and the world.”
Copp writes for the Associated Press.
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