(21 Oct 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kyiv, Ukraine – 21 October 2024
1. Wide of U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin approaching lectern
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lloyd Austin, U.S. Defense Secretary:
"The United States does not seek war with Russia. And even as Putin makes profoundly reckless and dangerous threats about nuclear war, we will continue to behave with the responsibility that the world rightly demands of a nuclear armed state. So, the United States will uphold our sworn NATO obligations. The United States will defend every inch of NATO’s territory. And the United States will get Ukraine what it needs to fight for its survival and security."
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Lloyd Austin, U.S. Defense Secretary:
"So we must continue to face squarely face the specter of an aggressive Russia, backed by other autocrats from North Korea and Iran. If Ukraine falls under Putin’s boot, all of Europe will fall under Putin’s shadow."
++ENDS ON A SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
The United States “will get Ukraine what it needs” to fight its war with Russia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday.
The defense chief gave no hint that Washington might endorse key planks of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s so-called “victory plan,” when he spoke at the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine.
Austin noted that his country has delivered more than $58 billion in security assistance for Ukraine since Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion, making The United States Kyiv’s main backer.
But Zelenskyy has asked Ukraine’s Western allies to go a few steps further, notably requesting an invite for Ukraine to join NATO and letting it use Western-supplied longer-range missiles to strike military targets deep inside Russian territory.
Those steps have been met with a lukewarm response.
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.
It faces a hard winter after Russia targeted its power grid.
Austin’s remarks were notable for what they did not include — an endorsement of Ukraine being invited into NATO, or any indication the U.S. will support Ukraine becoming more aggressive in its defense with longer-range attacks on Russian soil.
With the U.S. presidential election about two weeks away, U.S. officials are treading carefully. President Joe Biden has balked at measures that might escalate the war and bring a confrontation between NATO and Russia.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov thanked the U.S. for their continued support and highlighted it as "a powerful symbol of the shared values that bind our nations together."
Austin said that there is "no silver bullet" to ending the conflict and "no one system will end Putin’s assault.”
He added that "the United States does not seek war with Russia.”
“What matters is the way that Ukraine fights back," Austin told the assembled diplomatic and military personnel at the academy.
"What matters is the combined effects of your military capabilities. And what matters is staying focused on what works,” he added.
AP video shot by Vasilisa Stepanenko
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