US defense chief visits Kyiv for talks on how to keep supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia

[October 21, 2024]  By ILLIA NOVIKOV

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit Monday, hours after a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital and as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushes Western partners to keep providing military support for the war.

Austin said on the X platform that his fourth visit shows “that the United States, alongside the international community, continues to stand by Ukraine.”

Ukraine is having difficulty holding back a ferocious Russian campaign along the eastern front that is gradually compelling Kyiv’s forces to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets.

Zelenskyy is urging Western allies to support his so-called ‘victory plan’ to end the almost three-year war, which is Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including many civilians.

His strategy includes a formal invitation for Ukraine to join NATO and permission to use Western long-range missiles to strike military targets in Russia — steps that Kyiv’s allies have previously balked at supporting.

The Western response has been lukewarm, and Austin was expected to discuss the plan with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said in a Sunday evening video address that his plan had won the backing of France, Lithuania, Nordic countries and “many other allies” in the European Union which he didn’t name.

The key country, however, is the United States, which is Ukraine’s biggest military supplier.

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Service, emergency workers clear the rubble after Russia attacked the city with guided bombs overnight in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

Zelenskyy said he had received “very positive signals from the United States,” but he stopped short of saying he had secured Washington’s endorsement for the plan.

Analysts say the U.S. is unlikely to make a decision before the presidential election in two weeks' time.

The latest Russian strikes on Ukraine, targeting Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia, rammed home the urgency for Kyiv officials of clinching guarantees of more support. Large amounts of ammunition are needed for the kind of attritional warfare the warring sides are engaged in.

A Russian missile attack on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia injured seven people in the city center and caused huge damage to civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten and more than 30 residential buildings, regional Gov. Ivan Fedorov said.

Machine gun fire and the noise of drones’ engines was also heard in Kyiv’s center throughout the night. Authorities reported minor damages to civilian infrastructure caused by falling drone debris in the three districts of the city.

Russia fired three missiles and more than 100 drones at Ukraine overnight from Sunday to Monday, Ukraine's air force said.

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