United States Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin reaffirmed the US and NATO's long term commitment to a free and sovereign Ukraine Friday as he spoke at a press conference in Brussels one day after a defense ministerial meeting that addressed Ukraine's ongoing conflict with Russia.
"Like countries of goodwill around the world, our NATO allies continue to stand up for Ukraine's sovereignty and self-defense," Austin said.
And the United States and our allies and partners are committed to standing by Ukraine for the long haul, and we'll stand by one another," he added.
Two parallel goals are necessary to give Ukraine the assistance it requires to rebuff Russian aggression, Austin said, with the first focused on the present.
"We are paying attention to what Ukraine needs today to be able to succeed on the battlefield in its defense of sovereign territory," Austin said.
It's been a very successful endeavor at that, and I would remind everybody that Ukraine has undertaken the largest military in Europe; and for two and a half years, it has successfully defended its territory," Austin said, adding that Ukrainian capital city Kyiv is still standing and that Russian President Vladimir Putin has "yet to achieve any of his strategic objectives.".
Other than that goal for focusing on the present, Austin said the second goal in supporting Ukraine is to ensure resources are available to the country to deter and defend against future aggression.
As an example of that, Austin talked about a number of capability coalitions that have been established in support of Ukraine.
He further explained that those coalitions include an air force coalition that brought the F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine; the artillery coalition has brought long-term support for artillery and ammunition for the country; the information technology coalition helps ensure Ukraine has what it needs in order to function effectively in the information domain, and so on.
These coalitions are meant to ensure Ukraine has everything it needs to deter aggressions and adequately defend itself in the future, Austin said.
And I've got to applaud the work of our allies and partners who are leading some of these coalitions … rallying support for Ukraine … and digging deep to give them what we think they'll need going forward, he added.
Asked whether he supports the victory plan that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled to his country's parliament on Wednesday, Austin said that while it's not his place to evaluate or endorse such a plan publicly, the US and allies are going to continue to do all they can to provide the security necessary to support Zelensky as he tries to accomplish his objectives.
"We've been sustaining him by providing security assistance in a major way for more than two and a half years, and we're gonna continue to do that," Austin said.
Speaking about NATO more broadly than strictly within the framework of Ukraine, Austin again reiterated that the multinational body is galvanized around its Article Five commitment to come to the defense of all its member countries.
Ironclad remains the US commitment to Article Five, and we will be able to defend the sovereignty and the territory of every member country of this alliance, regardless of the changes that lie ahead, Austin said.
"Our response will be to tackle them together," he continued. "And that solidarity is the reason why NATO is the greatest defensive alliance in history."
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