CNN
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, here speaking on CNN, February 23, 2023.
WAR IN UKRAINE – On the occasion of the first anniversary of the Ukrainian conflict, the head of the Pentagon spoke Thursday, February 23 in an interview on CNN. According to Lloyd Austin, the training and equipment that the United States provides to Ukraine “will change the dynamics on the battlefield” and will allow kyiv’s forces to “break through the Russian defences”.
“We are training and equipping several mechanized infantry brigades – that’s a pretty big capability”said the Secretary of Defense. “On top of that, with additional artillery, they will have the ability to break through Russian defenses and maneuvers, and I think that will create a different dynamic”, he detailed.
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“Rather than having a stalemate, which you’re likely to see, it’s Ukrainians who are going to shape this fight so they can create opportunities for themselves and exploit those opportunities in the future”he still predicted.
Since the beginning of the war, Washington, who had alerted his allies as early as October 2021 of an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, provided a total of around thirty billion dollars in aid to the Ukrainian army in tanks, weapons, ammunition and training systems.
A message for Beijing
Lloyd Austin’s remarks also follow a recent top-secret and surprise visit to Kyiv by Joe Biden, which aimed to send a clear message about the strength of the US-Ukraine alliance to Russian President Vladimir Putin. . The head of the Pentagon has also supported this point on CNN.
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“As long as Ukraine continues to carry out operations and work to regain its sovereign territory, we will be there with them”he said, adding that “ the international community will be with Ukraine once the fighting stops”.
In the end, the war will probably end in some kind of negotiation”he estimated on CNN. « [C]What interests the Ukrainians is getting the Russians out of their sovereign territory. And I think that will probably be their starting point, but I will let the Ukrainians speak for themselves”concluded the Secretary of Defense.
On potential arms shipments from China to Russia, which Beijing recently denied, Lloyd Austin claimed that China “definitely didn’t take (that possibility) off the table”. “I hired my counterpart early on and told him it would be a very big mistake if China did this. That would complicate things.”, he said. On this issue, Beijing is trying to impose itself as a mediator and has called on Russia and Ukraine to hold peace talks, rejecting any recourse to nuclear weapons.
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