Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin arrives in Kyiv unexpectedly
21 October 09:59On the morning of 21 October, US Secretary of Defence Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit. He announced it himself on Twitter, reports Komersant Ukrainian
“This is my fourth time in Ukraine as Defence Secretary, demonstrating that the United States, along with the international community, continues to support Ukraine,”
– the minister wrote.
According to CNN, Austin will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov in Kyiv. He is going to discuss Ukraine’s arms needs and “how the United States can continue to support Ukraine’s armed forces over the next year”.
Austin arrived in the Ukrainian capital immediately after Russia once again attacked Kyiv with drones.
The day before, the French newspaper Le Monde reported that the US was ready to invite Ukraine to join NATO.
At the same time, Biden said that there was no consensus on long-range weapons for Ukraine. It is worth noting that the United States is the country that is most opposed to finding this consensus.
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Western weapons and permits for their use
As you know, the United States(and Germany after them) allow the use of weapons provided by them only for strikes on the border territories of Russia. This permission was granted by US President Joe Biden only at the end of May, and before that, strikes on Russian territory with US weapons were prohibited altogether.
However, towards the end of June, the US side unofficially stated that the restrictions “do not apply to geography or a certain radius”. This was interpreted as meaning that Ukraine could allegedly strike at those facilities and territories from which attacks on Ukraine are directly directed, even if they are deeper than the border areas. But it has recently emerged that this may also mean that Ukraine is not allowed to strike certain targets even in the occupied territories.
Experts say that border strikes will not change the situation at the front, so Zelenskyy is asking his partners for permission to use their weapons to strike Russian territory. Some Western countries have already given such permission.