Lloyd Austin, Volodymyr Zelenskyj og Antony Blinken møttes i Kyiv den 24. april 2022. Foto: Den ukrainske presidentens pressekontor via AP / NTB.

Russlands militære kapasitet bør reduseres så mye at landet ikke igjen kan gjøre hva det har gjort i Ukraina, sier USAs forsvarsminister Lloyd Austin til pressen mandag morgen etter et besøk han og utenriksminister Antony Blinken har avlagt hos Ukrainas president Volodymyr Zelenskyj i Kyiv søndag.

Wall Street Journal skriver:

“We want to see Russia weakened to the degree that it can’t do the kinds of things that it has done in invading Ukraine,” Mr. Austin said Monday after the highest-level visit of U.S. officials to Kyiv since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

Under besøket i Kyvi lovet Austin og Blinken økt militær støtte til Ukraina. Russland mislykkes og Ukraina lykkes, kommenterer Blinken. De to mener at Ukraina kan vinne krigen hvis landet får riktig utstyr:

“We believe that they can win if they have the right equipment, the right support,” Mr. Austin said, adding of Mr. Zelensky: “While he’s grateful for all the things we’re doing, he’s also focused on what he thinks he’ll need next in order to be successful.”

Det er ensbetydende med enda tyngre materiell, som stridsvogner:

Besides artillery, Ukraine has expressed an interest in getting more tanks, he said.

USA til gjøre alt for å hjelpe Ukraina til å vinne, sier Austin.

Amerikanerne er oppmerksomme på risikoen for at konflikten eskalerer:

Still, U.S. officials said they recognized that Russian President Vladimir Putin could choose to escalate the war, including possibly with weapons of mass destruction.

“I suspect that May is going to be very much in his mind in wanting to show something, so we fully anticipate that he’s going to press the accelerator the best he can,” the senior official said. “We’re trying to be prepared for everything.”

Having struck Odessa in recent days, the senior official said, Mr. Putin is “looking at the entire expanse of the Black Sea coastline.”

USA ønsker ikke desto mindre å avstå fra å havne i direkte strid med Russland:

Asked whether the increased U.S. focus on Ukraine risks increasing tensions with Russia, the U.S. official said Washington has no plans to involve its troops in the conflict.