American President Joe Biden announced to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, during a call this Wednesday, October 16, new military aid from Washington to kyiv valued at $425 million and which notably includes “additional air defense capabilities” .
“To meet Ukraine’s urgent needs” in its war against Russia, the United States will provide Ukraine in the coming months with “hundreds of air defense interceptors, dozens of tactical air defense systems, additional artillery systems, significant quantities of munitions, hundreds of armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles, and thousands of additional armored vehicles,” the White House said in a statement .
Ukraine, critically lacking in men and resources to hold out on the Eastern Front where Russia is gradually gaining ground, hopes for an end to the war sometime in 2025, but continues to see its cities and their energy infrastructure shelled by Moscow.
Zelensky’s “victory plan”
This announcement comes as the “victory plan”, unveiled Wednesday by Volodymyr Zelensky, is on the agenda for discussions at the NATO ministerial meeting which begins this Thursday in Brussels.
After months of secret preparation and an express European tour, the Ukrainian president presented his project, insisting that Russia must “lose the war” it launched in February 2022. “There can be no ‘freeze’ (from the front) There can be no exchange concerning the territory of Ukraine or its sovereignty,” he insisted, once again calling on the West to invite him into NATO.
“I cannot say today exactly what the path will be, but I am absolutely certain that, in the future, Ukraine will join us,” declared the head of NATO, questioned on this point. Moscow, for its part, accused Volodymyr Zelensky of “pushing” NATO to “enter into direct conflict” with Russia.