Kyiv gets pledges of arms, copters, other supplies from 20 countries

WASHINGTON • Some 20 countries have offered new security assistance packages for Ukraine to battle invading Russian forces, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin announced.

In the second gathering of allies on Monday, nearly four dozen countries and organisations forming the Ukraine Defence Contact Group met online to discuss helping Ukraine, and 20 nations pledged arms, ammunition and other supplies to support Kyiv.

The group was briefed by Ukraine Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov on the current situation in the three-month-old war, in which the two sides are fighting along a long front line over territory Russia has seized in Ukraine's east and south.

"Today, together with Minister Reznikov and his team, we've gained a sharper and shared sense of Ukraine's priority requirements and the situation on the battlefield," Mr Austin said.

"Many countries are donating critically needed artillery ammunition, coastal defence systems and tanks and other armoured vehicles," he said.

Others, he added, are offering training for Ukraine's military.

He said Denmark has committed to send a Harpoon anti-ship missile system, and the Czech Republic is offering attack helicopters, tanks and rocket systems. Harpoons are cruise missiles that can skim the surface of the sea to target ships as far as 300km offshore.

Usually Harpoons are mounted aboard ships or aircraft, but Denmark is the only country that acquired land-based systems for coastal protection.

The Danish battery would add a layer of protection to Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa, which is believed to be under threat of Russian invasion from the sea.

They could also reach the port of Sevastopol, where some of the Russian Black Sea fleet is based.

Mr Austin would not provide details of what is included in a new US$40 billion (S$55 billion) US assistance package for Ukraine, amid speculation that it could include high-precision, long-distance rockets that could be used to hit Russian territory.

Ukraine has asked the United States for mobile batteries of long-range rockets, the M270 MLRS and the M142 Himars.

They can launch multiple rockets at the same time with a range of up to 300km, eight times or more the distance of artillery in the field. That could give Ukrainian forces the ability to reach, with great precision, targets far behind Russian lines.

It could also allow them to hit targets well inside Russia, though it is unclear if that is their intent.

Since the first meeting of the weapons donor group at a US base in Germany four weeks ago, Mr Austin said "the momentum of donations and deliveries has been outstanding".

He said Ukraine's needs have not changed much since the previous meeting and the war continues to be driven by artillery, supported by tanks, drones and other equipment.

Meanwhile, the US is still "a ways away" from any possible decision on whether to reintroduce American troops into Ukraine, General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said on Monday, even as he acknowledged that low-level planning is under way.

President Joe Biden decided to withdraw American troops from Ukraine before Russia's Feb 24 invasion to avoid a direct conflict with a nuclear-armed adversary.

But changing circumstances, including the reopening of the US embassy, have raised questions about whether American troops may be required to return to help ensure security of diplomats in a country at war.

At a news conference, Gen Milley acknowledged some degree of staff planning ahead of a potential decision to send US troops back into Ukraine. That planning has not made it to his level for review or to the level of Mr Austin.

The Pentagon is helping Ukraine battle Russian troops by sharing intelligence and sending it weaponry.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS