Warsaw: The US wants Russia to “weaken” so that it can not attack anymore and Ukraine can win the war if it has the right equipment, Pentagon Head Lloyd Austin said Monday about returning from the trip to Kyiv.
“The first step in winning is to believe that you can win. Then they believe that we can win,” Austin told a group of journalists after a visit to US Secretary Antony Blinken.
Both, who met with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, were the first high -ranking US officials to visit Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24.
“We believe that we can win, they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” Austin said.
Austin and Blinken said US diplomats would start a gradual return to Ukraine this week and announce $ 700 million (653 million euros) in additional military assistance.
Russia “has lost many military abilities. And many of their troops honestly, and we want to see them not having the ability to reproduce that ability very quickly,” he said.
“We want to see Russia weaken to a level that cannot do things that have been done in attacking Ukraine,” Austin said.
