Austin to Ukraine: US, allies ‘have your back’

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Tuesday said to Ukraine that the U.S. and other allies “have your back” while giving the opening remarks to a gathering of military leaders at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

“My Ukrainian friends: We know the burden that you all carry and we know, and you should know that all of us have your back,” Austin said at the gathering of 40 countries.

“And that’s why we’re here today, to strengthen the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy.”

Austin went on to discuss the Russian invasion and Ukraine’s security needs, telling the Ukrainians that they have fought bravely and help is on the way.

“Your resistance has brought inspiration to the free world,” Austin said. “Putin never imagined that the world would rally around Ukraine so swiftly and surely.”

“Russia is waging a war of choice to indulge the ambitions of one man,” he continued later. “Ukraine is fighting a war of necessity to defend its democracy, its sovereignty and its citizens”

He added that the U.S. and allies are working to quickly address current Ukrainian military needs.

“We are going to keep moving heaven and earth so that we can meet them,” Austin said, according to The New York Times.

Austin’s comments come as the Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its third month.

On Monday, the defense chief said that beyond offering aid to Ukraine, the U.S. wants to “see Russia weakened” by the end of the conflict so that it can’t again “do the kinds of things that it has done.”

Russia has lost thousands of troops in the conflict, which it appeared to hope to win in days with a broad, nationwide invasion.

But after failing to take the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Russia has refocused on the eastern Donbas region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials continue to rally for international support, with countries giving billions of dollars in aid and weapons to help support the Ukrainian fight.