Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin Vows to Support Ukraine ‘for as Long as It Takes’

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Friday morning that the United States will support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” a day after the U.S. announced another multibillion-dollar assistance package for the country.

The U.S. announced late Thursday evening that it has approved another military aid package to Ukraine for $2.5 billion dollars, bringing up total U.S. military assistance to Ukraine since the beginning of 2021 to $27.5 billion.

The U.S. announcement called it “significant” and “unprecedented.”

So far, the U.S. has allocated more than $100 billion in aid since the conflict began in February 2022.

“We will support Ukraine’s self-defense for as long as it takes,” Austin pledged at the beginning of a gathering of nations formed to support Ukraine known as the Ukraine Defense Contact Group and headed by the U.S.

Austin made his remarks before the group’s eighth meeting, convened in Germany.

Austin also encouraged countries to “dig even deeper” to support Ukraine.

“[W]e need to keep up our momentum and our resolve. We need to dig even deeper. This is a decisive moment for Ukraine in a decisive decade for the world,” he said:

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin committed America's support for Ukraine for "as long as it takes" during a speech at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on Friday. "This is not a moment to slow down," Austin said. "It's a time to dig deeper."

The latest: https://t.co/iJn7bd3jZ2 pic.twitter.com/R83ID2vFGq

— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 20, 2023

The conflict has lasted 11 months so far, with no end in sight.

Much of the military assistance given to Ukraine has come from the U.S. military’s own stocks, which have to be replaced.

Defense contractors tasked with replenishing those stocks are raking in millions of American taxpayer dollars in contracts, as Breitbart News recently reported.

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