WASHINGTON — Days earlier than Western allies meet to debate sending extra superior weapons, together with tanks, to Ukraine, the highest U.S. common met along with his Ukrainian counterpart in individual for the primary time on Tuesday in southeastern Poland.
The assembly between Gen. Mark A. Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, and Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhny, the chief of Ukraine’s army, underscored the robust ties between the 2 nation’s armed forces.
The face-to-face assembly at an undisclosed Polish army base adopted practically 4 dozen safe video calls since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine final February. The assembly got here because the Ukrainians are getting ready to hold out a spring offensive to wrest again territory and to defend towards a doable Russian assault on the similar time, Western officers say.
“They mentioned the unprovoked and ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine and exchanged views and assessments,” Col. Dave Butler, Normal Milley’s spokesman, stated in an announcement. “The chairman reaffirmed unwavering help for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Colonel Butler didn’t describe any particulars of the assembly, in step with Normal Milley’s coverage to not focus on his non-public deliberations with international counterparts.
Normal Zaluzhny despatched out a Twitter message after the assembly: “Prolonged my gratitude for the unwavering help & help offered by U.S. & allies.” The overall added that he “outlined the pressing wants” of the Ukrainian armed forces, “which is able to speed up our Victory.”
Normal Milley is in Europe this week for conferences and troop visits forward of Friday’s gathering of senior protection and army officers from dozens of countries, together with NATO states, on the Ramstein Air Base in Germany. A essential matter of that session can be sending Western tanks and air defenses to Ukraine, officers stated.
In late December, the USA stated it might ship a Patriot air-defense system, on which Ukrainian troopers started coaching in Oklahoma in current days. On the similar time, France, Germany and the USA every promised to ship armored combating automobiles to Ukraine’s battlefields for the primary time.
Previously week, Britain has promised to ship tanks to Ukraine, and Poland has stated that it might accomplish that if Germany allowed it to re-export its German-made tanks, breaking a long-held taboo by pledging weapons they earlier prevented over considerations of frightening Moscow.
Ukraine hopes that the elevated stress will persuade Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, to authorize the export to Ukraine of German-made tanks within the arsenals of different NATO allies. The tanks, referred to as the Leopard 2’s, are among the many most coveted by Kyiv, and consultants say that, in vital numbers, they’d considerably improve Ukraine’s potential to drive again Russian forces.
In Washington on Tuesday, Brig. Gen. Patrick S. Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, declined to touch upon particular tanks, however he famous that enhancing Ukraine’s armored forces might assist “change the equation on the battlefield, particularly as we’ve seen a few of these strains change into static.”
On Sunday, the USA began coaching 500 Ukrainian troopers on methods to coordinate items in battle utilizing artillery, armor and floor forces. Normal Milley visited the U.S. base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, on Monday to view the coaching.
And a separate coaching program, at Fort Sill in Oklahoma, the USA has begun coaching “upwards of 90 to 100 Ukrainians” on the operations of the Patriot missile system, Normal Ryder stated.