Ukraine Live Updates: U.S. Military Leaders to Meet With Allies in Germany

 

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April 26, 2022, 3:03 a.m. ET2 minutes ago

2 minutes ago

Ukraine Live Updates: U.S. Military Leaders to Meet With Allies in Germany

 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin wants NATO to send more aid to Ukraine that could make it harder for Russia to rebuild its military after significant losses in two months of war.

 

Victoria Kim and Anushka Patil

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/04/26/world/ukraine-russia-war-news

 

Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine.

Top U.S. defense officials are set to meet with NATO allies in Germany on Tuesday to whip up more military support for Ukraine that could help make it harder for Russian forces to rebuild their military capabilities after significant losses.

 

Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III made the boldest U.S. comments yet about limiting Russia’s capabilities on Monday after he and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. Mr. Austin will try to convince dozens of military leaders on Tuesday that after two months of war, now is the time to expand support and make sure Russia is unable to quickly rebound.

 

Russia’s foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, responded by saying that delivering weapons to Ukraine meant NATO was “in essence” entering a proxy war with Russia and warned western countries that there was “considerable” risk of nuclear war.

 

The British defense secretary supported Mr. Austin’s assessment about Russian troop losses, saying Monday he believed that more than 15,000 soldiers had been killed so far.

 

Mr. Austin said the U.S. would “push as hard as we can as quickly as we can to get them what they need.”

 

“They can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” he said of Ukraine. “And we’re going continue to do everything we can to ensure that that gets there.”

 

In other developments:

 

The State Department on Monday approved plans to supply Ukraine with $165 million in artillery shells, rockets and grenades compatible with Soviet-designed weapons.

 

President Biden appointed Bridget Brink to be the ambassador to Ukraine. Officials announced the U.S. embassy in Kyiv will reopen in a few weeks, after it was closed in February before the invasion.

 

Russia fired missiles on at least five railway stations across central and western Ukraine early Monday, hours after Mr. Blinken and Mr. Austin met Mr. Zelensky. The strikes were part of a broader assault aimed at crippling critical infrastructure in Ukraine.

 

Explosions shook Transnistria, a Russia-aligned breakaway region of Moldova that borders Ukraine and where hundreds of Russian troops are deployed. Ukrainian defense officials accused Russia of causing the explosions as a pretext to invade Ukraine from the west.