Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin and Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov discussed priorities for upcoming Allied meetings from Kiev to Brussels, including air defense and artillery.
The talks were announced by both sides late Saturday night.
With a pledge to provide dozens of advanced battle tanks, including US M1 Abrams, German Leopard 2s and British Challenger 2s, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials are calling on their allies to provide fighter jets .
The Ukrainian Defense Contact Group will meet at NATO Headquarters on Tuesday. This meeting will follow the meeting at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on January 20.
Recall that this meeting was the key to the decision to send tanks to Ukraine.
Brigadier General Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said Austin had discussed with Reznikov the importance of delivering the promised weapons as soon as possible.
After the conversation, Reznikov tweeted that “the United States steadfastly supports Ukraine,” adding that defense chiefs also discussed the situation on the front lines.
