The Ramstein group, the military coalition of more than 50 countries supporting Ukraine under the leadership of the United States, has reaffirmed Tuesday its military support to Kiev although without major announcements and ruling out for the moment the dispatch of fighter jets, the main demand of the Ukrainian authorities.
Tuesday’s meeting at NATO headquarters in Brussels was intended to finalize details on the supply of tanks to Ukraine, although few new announcements came out of the meeting beyond the commitment of the coalition, made up of eleven countries, including Spain, to provide Ukraine with battle tanks and new anti-aircraft defense systems provided by Italy and the Netherlands.
At a press conference after the meeting, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin praised the role of Poland, Canada, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands in sending Leopard battle tanks, although he offered no new announcements on the number of tanks or the timetable for deploying them to Ukraine.
Speaking on the sidelines of the meeting, Defense Minister Margarita Robles did speak of a deadline of late March or early April for the European-trained tanks and crews to be ready for combat.
This move, Austin argued, seeks to boost Kiev’s «momentum» in the military contest and create favorable conditions on the battlefield. The idea is to help the Ukrainian army withstand the current Russian offensive around the town of Bajmut in the Donbas region and allow it to launch its own attack as early as spring.
«Ukraine expects to be able to conduct an offensive in the spring, so all partners in the contact group must ensure that it has the capabilities and the sustainment to make the actions effective and generate an impact,» the U.S. defense official stressed.
Along with Austin, U.S. Chief of Staff Mark Milley explained that the war front is stable and the biggest movements are felt in Bajmut, where he said Russia is waging a «war of attrition», mobilizing many poorly trained and poorly equipped troops and taking a high cost in human lives. «There are no sophisticated maneuvers, but a lot of artillery and a lot of casualties,» he has described.
NO ANNOUNCEMENTS ON FIGHTER AIRCRAFT The meeting also failed to generate any conclusive results on the most repeated request in recent weeks by Kiev for the supply of fighter aircraft. After the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, insisted on fighter planes during his European tour that took him to London, Paris and Brussels, the US Secretary of Defense has pointed out that «there are no announcements» about planes and has focused his words on the equipment already sent, insisting that the priority now is that the material supplied to Ukraine is effective in the war context.
«We will continue to work to address Ukraine’s most urgent needs,» Austin has exposed, stressing that it is a «monumental task» to coordinate all the systems offered by Ukraine’s allies and give them a platform and sustainability, that is with the supply of components and spare parts, so that they can make a difference on the battlefield.
On the role of Russian air forces, the U.S. leaders stressed that they have not yet come into play in the Ukrainian war and, despite saying that intelligence does not point to this scenario imminently, warned that Moscow has a «substantial amount and great capability» on this front. «That’s why we emphasize giving as many anti-aircraft systems as possible,» Austin concluded.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
