UKR: PM Shmyhal Meets With Def Sec Austin Amid Fallout From Pentagon Leak

Ukraine Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal is shortly due to arrive at the Pentagon for a key meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as US officials struggle to contain the fallout from a major classified document leak.

• Shmyhal said yesterday that Ukraine's air defence "will be very effective," when supplies pledged by NATO allies are transferred, addressing suggestions in the leaked Pentagon documents that Ukraine’s air defences may be vulnerable to future Russian aerial bombardments.
• Shmyhal told Canada's CTV yesterday: "We are much more protected in the sense of air defence than in the beginning of this war... Now, we have even all kinds of air defence in Ukraine, It's vast kinds of equipment, NATO standard equipment, it's very effective."
• Shmyhal told the Hill ahead of the visit that he still believes Ukraine is capable of retaking territory in a widely anticipated spring counteroffensive despite pessimistic US military forecasts in the Pentagon leaks: “We have proven multiple times that we can do it. From our international partners we ask for more military capabilities, like tanks, ammunition, planes, armored vehicles."