Russia-Ukraine live updates: Mass grave seen near Mariupol as Biden announces more aid for ‘critical window’ of war
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will host a summit in Germany next week to build support for Ukraine’s defense and security needs, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, John Kirby, said Thursday.
The “Ukraine Defense Consultative Group,” which will meet at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Tuesday, has the markings of a donors conference. But Kirby said its ambitions are broader, and that the group will focus not just on Ukraine’s short-term military assistance needs and the latest battlefield assessments, but also take “a longer, larger view of Ukraine’s defense needs, going forward beyond the war that they’re facing right now.”
“We think it’s time to have that discussion,” Kirby said.
It is not yet clear exactly which nations have been invited to take part in the discussion or have accepted the invitation. Kirby said the developing list of invitees includes both NATO allies and other countries outside NATO.
The planned summit comes as the United States is ramping up its military assistance to Ukraine. On Thursday, the Biden administration announced it would send another $800 million in defense equipment to Ukraine, starting in coming days, including 72 Howitzers and 144,000 artillery rounds — the sort of firepower that Kirby said Ukraine “critically” needs.
The package also includes a new unmanned aerial system called the Phoenix Ghost, which Kirby said has capabilities similar to Switchblade drones.
“Its principal focus is attack,” Kirby added, saying that the drone system would “lend itself well to this particular kind of terrain” in the Donbas region, currently the focal point of the Russian invasion.