Defense Minister Lloyd Austin visited Ukraine on Monday, just two weeks before the US presidential election, in a show of solidarity with Kiev, raising uncertainty about the future of Western support.
Austin’s fourth and likely final visit as President Joe Biden’s Pentagon chief will include in-depth discussions about U.S. efforts to bolster Kiev’s defenses amid a Russian military buildup in eastern Ukraine.
But any new deal is not expected to include some of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s biggest wishes, such as lifting restrictions on Washington’s use of US-supplied weapons to strike targets outside Ukraine’s borders.
As the Biden administration winds down, Austin has hinted that US support will continue.
“We will continue to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend its sovereign territory,” Austin told reporters traveling with him to Ukraine.
“We have observed that this struggle has developed over time. And every time we’ve developed, we’ve risen to the occasion to meet their (Ukraine’s) needs to make sure they’re effective on the battlefield.”
As Austin disembarked from a train in Kiev after an overnight trip from Poland, Ukrainian officials reported fresh Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital, a second night in a row of several waves of drones damaging residential buildings and injuring at least one civilian.
Austin’s visit comes ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential vote in which former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, is seeking re-election in a close race against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump has signaled that he would be more reluctant than Biden to continue supporting Ukraine, which could deprive Kiev of its biggest military and financial support.
Austin downplayed such concerns.
“I’ve seen bipartisan support for Ukraine over the last 2-1/2 years, and I fully expect that we’ll continue to see bipartisan support from Congress,” he said.
The retired four-star general has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest defenders, building a dozen-nation coalition that supplies Kiev with weapons that help it deal heavy blows to Russian forces.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin seems content to commit more and more forces to a costly advance in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region, which Moscow claims as its territory.
In recent weeks, Russia besieged towns in Donetsk region and then slowly pushed them out until Ukrainian units were forced to retreat.
“It’s a very tough fight and it’s a tough slog,” Austin said.
Meanwhile, even as the expanding conflicts in the Middle East are in the international spotlight, Kiev is trying to keep its war in the spotlight in the West.
Zelenskyy last met with Austin last Thursday at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels, where he laid out his “victory plan.” He received continued pledges of support, but no support from key allies for an invitation to join NATO immediately.
Asked about his plan to win in Brussels on Friday, Austin said: “It’s not my position to evaluate his plan publicly.”
Experts say Kiev must begin making tough decisions this summer about whether to hold on to territory captured by Russia in the Kursk region in a surprise offensive, including how to deploy an expanded combat force.
The Kursk offensive caught Austin and the US government off guard. Kiev hoped that it would wrest the battlefield initiative from Russia by diverting Moscow’s forces from the eastern front.
But Putin is focused on capturing the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, a key logistics hub for Kiev’s war effort.
Despite billions of dollars in US military support, including F-16 fighter jets, Abrams tanks and more, Ukraine faces an uphill battle.