Kiev – AFP
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Ukraine on Tuesday for talks on providing US military assistance to Kiev to deal with Russia, which is worried about Moscow.
Austin is scheduled to meet with President Volodymyr Zhelensky and Defense Minister Andrei Taran.
At the end of August, the latter two traveled to Washington, where President Joe Biden renewed his pledge to support Kiev against Russia, while Gelensky’s hope that Biden would get something from him on his country’s most important issue of joining NATO went away. List. Wind.
But the Ukrainian president left Washington with $ 60 million worth of additional military aid, including anti-ballistic missiles.
On Monday, Kiev handed over part of the aid it needed to support the military, which has been locked into a confrontation with Russian-backed separatists accused of providing them military support, which it denies.
The conflict, which erupted shortly after Russia annexed Ukrainian Crimea in 2014, has claimed more than 13,000 lives to date.
A senior U.S. official said during a visit to Kiev that he would discuss strengthening the reform of the Ukrainian military and its military and deepening the control of public institutions in the sector.
“The Ukrainian government has promised to carry out these reforms,” ​​the official said, stressing that the Pentagon would give “priority” to talks on Tuesday.
For years, the West has been asking Ukraine to do more to fight corruption and better governance.
These reforms will defy Moscow’s dissatisfaction and enhance cooperation with NATO, which wants Ukraine to join.
Europeans and Americans have not yet shown much interest in accelerating Ukraine’s accession to NATO.
Austin is currently touring the Black Sea, and on Monday he visited Georgia, another former Soviet republic where he wants to join NATO.
He then travels to Romania, a NATO member.
Since 2014, the United States has allocated $ 2.5 billion in aid to the Ukrainian armed forces, more than $ 400 million in 2021 alone, Biden says.
The Americans repeatedly expressed their dissatisfaction with the corruption and bureaucracy in the Ukrainian military.