Ukraine can win the war against Russia if it has the right equipment, Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Monday on returning from a trip to Kyiv with US State Secretary Antony Blinken.
“The first step in winning is believing that you can win. And so they believe that we can win,” Austin told a group of journalists after he and Blinken had both met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“We believe that we can win, they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support.”
At a press conference in Poland, Blinken said Ukraine had already failed in its war aims.
“In terms of Russia’s war aims, Russia has already failed and Ukraine has already succeeded,” he said.
The United States took the opportunity of the first official US visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion two months ago to announce a gradual return of US diplomats to the country and the nomination of a new ambassador.
The cabinet secretaries also pledged new assistance worth $713 million for Zelensky’s government and countries in the region, where Russia’s invasion has raised fears of further aggression by Moscow.
