US Announces Additional USD250mn In Military Assistance

(MNI) London - Speaking at the Ukraine Contact Defense Group meeting at Ramstein airbase in Germany, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin III confirms that US President Joe Biden is set to approve an additional USD250mn in security assistance for Ukraine. Austin: “It will surge in more capabilities to meet Ukraine’s evolving requirements. And we’ll deliver them at the speed of war,”

• Teri Schultz at DW: "Austin says the coalition is "laser-focused on Ukraine's priority needs." He cites Biden in insisting "Russia will not prevail... the independent people of Ukraine will prevail and the US and our allies & partners will continue to stand with them every step of the way."
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his first in-person attendance at a Ramstein group meeting, repeats his call for the West to allow Kyiv to use long-range weapons against Russian territory. Zelenskyy: "We need to have these long-range capabilities not only on the ... territory of Ukraine but also on the Russian territory so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,"
• Speaking separately in Oslo, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg claimed that "China has become a decisive enabler of Russia's war against Ukraine, [...] China is the one that enables production of many of the weapons that Russia uses.[...] I call on China to stop supporting Russia's illegal war," China has previously denied such accusations, saying that Stoltenberg's claims are 'malicious' and show bias.