Zelensky meets top military leaders in Germany as US announces additional aid to Ukraine

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for increased arms support during a meeting Friday with top U.S. military leaders and more than 50 partner nations in Germany, as Washington announced it would provide an additional $250 million in security aid to kyiv.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the leaders’ meeting came at a dynamic moment in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, as it conducts its first offensive operations of the war while facing a significant threat from Russian forces near a key center in Donbass.

It was Zelensky’s first time in Ramstein to address the group, and he used his public appearance to stress that he believes what is most needed now is for the United States and the West to allow him to use the weapons they have supplied to strike deeper into Russia – something the United States has not supported for fear of further escalation of the war.

“We need to have this long-term capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on Russian territory, so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” Zelensky told members. “We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin.”

So far, the surprise assault on the Russian territory of Kursk — during which, according to Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian military was able to capture about 1,300 kilometers of Russian territory and kill or wound about 6,000 Russian soldiers — has not diverted President Vladimir Putin’s attention from capturing the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, which provides critical rail and supply lines to the Ukrainian military. The loss of Pokrovsk could put other Ukrainian cities at risk.

While the Kursk attack has put Russia on the defensive, “we know that Putin’s malice runs deep,” Austin warned in prepared remarks to the media ahead of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting. Moscow is pushing, particularly around Pokrovsk, Austin said.

Russia’s recent deadly airstrikes have renewed Zelensky’s calls for the United States to further ease restrictions and further strengthen Western capabilities to strike deeper into Russia. Zelensky also said that previously promised systems have taken too long to arrive.

“The number of air defense systems that have not yet been delivered is significant,” Zelenskyy said.

Friday’s meeting was expected to focus on securing more air defense and artillery supplies and building on gains in expanding Ukraine’s defense industrial base, to put it on a more solid footing as the final days of Joe Biden’s U.S. presidency draw to a close.

Western partner countries are working with Ukraine to find a replacement missile for its Soviet-era S-300 air defense systems, Austin said.

The United States is also focused on acquiring a variety of air-to-ground missiles that recently delivered F-16 fighter jets can carry, including the Fixed-Orbit Air-to-Ground Missile, which could give Ukraine a longer-range cruise missile option, said Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s top arms buyer, who spoke to reporters traveling with Austin.

No decision has been made on munitions, LaPlante said, noting that policymakers will still have to decide whether to give Ukraine a longer-range capability.

“I would just put the JASSM in that category, it’s something that’s still under study,” LaPlante said. “Anything that’s an air-to-ground weapon is still under study.”

For two years, members of the Contact Group on Ukraine’s Defense have been meeting to address Ukraine’s massive artillery and air defense needs, ranging from hundreds of millions of rounds of small arms ammunition to some of the West’s most sophisticated air defense systems, and now fighter jets. This month’s request was more of the same, but different in that it was in person, and followed a similar in-person visit to Kyiv on Thursday by Biden’s deputy national security adviser Jon Finer, as Zelenskyy shores up U.S. support ahead of the change in administration.

Since 2022, member countries have collectively provided approximately $106 billion in security assistance to Ukraine. The United States has provided more than $56 billion of that total.

The German government said Chancellor Olaf Scholz plans to meet Zelenskyy in Frankfurt on Friday afternoon.