Status: 01/20/2023 12:31 p.m
In Ramstein, around 50 countries are primarily discussing heavy arms deliveries to Ukraine. At the beginning, President Selenskyj urged more speed. US Secretary of Defense Austin spoke of a crucial moment.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin warns the western allies not to let up in their support for Ukraine now. “The Ukrainian people are looking at us. The Kremlin is looking at us. And history is looking at us. So we will not let up,” said Austin at the start of a meeting of the so-called Ukraine contact group at the US base in Ramstein in Rhineland-Palatinate .
Austin: Support “as long as it is needed”
Rather, it is time to step up military aid, Austin said, speaking of a pivotal moment for Ukraine. The allies would support Ukraine’s self-defense “as long as it is necessary”.
Austin pointed to a new $2.5 billion US aid package for Ukraine’s armed forces, which includes the delivery of 59 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles. US aid to Ukraine totaled $26.7 billion, Austin said.
At the center of the deliberations of the approximately 50 countries is the question of whether Western-style main battle tanks should now also be delivered to Ukraine for the first time, above all it is about the “Leopard 2” from German production.
Selenskyj demands more speed
At the beginning of the meeting of defense ministers, which was also attended by the new German head of department, Boris Pistorius, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the contact group directly in a video message for the first time. He called on the supporting states to speed up the delivery of weapons, including battle tanks.
Time is critical, he said. Russia is gathering its last strength. “We have to get faster.” The Russian terror does not allow long discussions. “The Kremlin must lose.” Zelenskyy thanked the assembled representatives of Western countries for their support to date. “We see the results on the battlefield in Ukraine.” But the defenders of freedom were slowly running out of weapons. In Ramstein, concrete decisions would have to be made about the delivery of aircraft, missiles and long-range artillery, for example, in order to be able to end Russian terror.
Kremlin: Tank deliveries will “change nothing”
The Kremlin, on the other hand, remained convinced of a victory for Russia. Western tank deliveries would “change nothing” in Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in Moscow. The West has a “dramatic delusion” that Ukraine could succeed “on the battlefield.” “One should not exaggerate the importance of such deliveries in view of the ability to change something,” Peskov told journalists. The conflict in Ukraine is developing in an “upward spiral”.