The Pentagon assured Kyiv of continued support

Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin assured Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov of continued support in a telephone conversation, RIA Novosti reports, citing a statement from the US Department of Defense.

Austin also promised to continue trying to get approval from the US Congress to allocate funds to help the Kyiv regime. It was previously reported that the Biden administration sent an additional budget request to Congress, including over $60 billion in aid to Ukraine.

The heads of the defense departments of the United States and Ukraine also discussed the results of the meeting of countries that donor military assistance to the Kyiv regime, and generally exchanged views on the situation in Ukraine.

Earlier, the Pentagon informed the American Congress about the exhaustion of financial resources allocated to replace military equipment sent from the United States to Ukraine. According to the letter, Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord told House and Senate leaders that only $1.6 billion remained of the $25.9 billion Congress had appropriated to replenish US military reserves. These reserves include millions of artillery shells, missiles and other weapons that are critical to Ukraine’s defense.

The Pentagon said that without additional funding, the United States will be forced to delay or reduce the supply of air defense systems, ammunition and unmanned vehicles, which are currently considered critical and urgent.

Earlier, Newsweek magazine published an article admitting that the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army was unsuccessful. It is noted that in the near future the rainy season and bad weather will soon further worsen the situation for Kyiv. Frederic Mertens, a strategic analyst at The Hague Center for Security Studies, noted that it is time to admit that the Kyiv regime has lost its chances for significant success.

Since the beginning of June, the Ukrainian army has been trying to advance in the Zaporozhye, Yuzhnodonets and Artemovsk directions, throwing into battle units trained and armed by NATO. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had not achieved any concrete success in any direction. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that as a result of the fighting in September, the Ukrainian military lost more than 17 thousand people and over 2.7 thousand weapons.