21 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Secretary of Defense of the United States, Lloyd Austin, this Friday blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin for the expansion of NATO, thus refuting one of the main arguments put forward by the Kremlin to justify the start of the invasion of Ukraine.
“Putin’s chosen war has not happened as a result of NATO expansion. Putin’s war became the reason for NATO expansion,” Austin defended during his speech at the eleventh meeting of the Contact Group for Ukraine at the US Ramstein base in Germany.
“He thought Ukraine would not dare to fight back, but Ukraine stands firm with the help of its partners. Putin thought our unity would split, but Russia’s chosen brutal war only brought us together,” he said.
Finland participated for the first time as a full-fledged member of this meeting, whose final membership was confirmed a couple of weeks ago. “Here today as a new NATO ally. I hope Sweden will follow soon,” she said.
In recent months, this group headed by NATO defense ministers has managed to supply Ukraine with more than 230 tanks and 1,550 other types of armored vehicles, as well as equipment and ammunition.
On the other hand, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Mark Milley, has advanced that “in a few weeks” the Ukrainian forces will receive the first training tanks to learn the use of the long-awaited Abrams, one of the Kiev’s main demands.
“There is no one solution in war, but in this case, as soon as the Abrams tanks arrive and reach their operational capabilities, they will be very effective on the battlefield,” General Milley said.
