JAKARTA - The United States will host a meeting expected by more than 40 countries on Ukraine's defense talks with a focus on arming Kyiv to deal with Russia's onslaught in the east.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held an event at Ramstein Air Base in Germany following a trip to Kyiv, where he pledged additional support for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's war effort.
Speaking to reporters after his trip to Ukraine, Austin said: "They can win if they have the right equipment, the right support."
The meeting, which aims to ensure the flow of such aid, is taking place at Ramstein, a sprawling air base southwest of Frankfurt that only months ago grappled with an influx of Afghan refugees after the Taliban took over the country last summer.
Meanwhile, US Army General Mark Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the main aim of the talks was to synchronize and coordinate increased security assistance to Kyiv which includes heavy weaponry, such as howitzer artillery, as well as armed drones and ammunition.
"The next few weeks will be very, very critical," General Milley told reporters traveling with him.
"They need ongoing support to succeed on the battlefield. And that's what this conference is all about."
Pushed back by Ukrainian forces from a failed offensive in Kyiv in the north, Moscow has redeployed its forces to the east for a ground offensive in the two provinces known as the Donbas.
Meanwhile, the US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Russia would rely heavily on artillery strikes, trying to pound Ukrainian positions as Moscow moves in with ground forces from various directions, to try to cover and wipe out large parts of the Ukrainian military.
But the United States also expects many Russian units to be depleted, with some operating with personnel losses as high as 30 percent, a level the US military considers too high to continue fighting, officials said.
US officials cite anecdotes such as the single-driver and unmanned Russian tank, as well as substandard equipment that is prone to damage or out of date.
Separately, a British assessment showed about 15,000 Russian personnel had died in the conflict, while 2,000 armored vehicles including about 530 tanks had been destroyed, along with 60 helicopters and fighter jets, Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said Monday.
Meanwhile, the Russian side has so far admitted only 1,351 soldiers were killed and 3,825 injured.
Russia still has advanced capabilities and superior troop numbers, and has shown a willingness to continue deploying troops and units into combat, US officials say.
In addition, Moscow is also economically capable of waging a long war in Ukraine, despite being hit by Western sanctions, defense experts and economists say.
For its part, Ukraine boasts high morale, creative and adaptive battlefield tactics and local knowledge of the terrain, along with weapons and intelligence from the United States and its allies.
"They definitely have a fighting chance," assured a US military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24 has killed thousands, displaced millions and raised fears of a wider confrontation between Russia and the United States, by far the world's two largest nuclear powers.
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