PM Shmyhal Meets US Defense Chief As Ukraine Prepares For Expected Counteroffensive

(RFE/RL) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on April 12 made another major push for modern and sophisticated U.S. weapons in a meeting at the Pentagon with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. 

Shmyhal said Ukraine “still needs intensive military support — more air-defense systems that minimize the impact of Russian air strikes, more heavy artillery, mortars, and ammunition for them” and asked that the Pentagon “reconsider the possibility of providing Ukraine with…longer-range missiles.”

Speaking to reporters alongside Austin, Shmyhal said Kyiv applauds the decision of the United States to join a coalition to provide Ukraine with tanks and Bradley and Stryker infantry fighting vehicles, but added, “For our counterattack to be successful, we require an increase in such supplies.”

He noted that Ukraine has formed a fighter jet coalition and said, “We are inviting the United States to become its most important participant.” 

Ukraine for months has pressed the United States and its allies to provide fighter jets to match Russia in the air. The Pentagon has resisted over concerns about escalating the war. But Shmyhal said on April 12 that in modern warfare, air superiority is crucial, and America can “once again demonstrate its leadership by providing Ukraine with F-15 or F-16 aircrafts.”

Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said earlier in a statement that Austin and Shmyhal discussed security assistance priorities, such as air defense and artillery, and training for the Ukrainian armed forces. 

The meeting came as Ukrainian forces continue are defending the eastern city of Bakhmut and preparing for an expected counteroffensive to retake Russian-occupied territory, and as Austin deals with the repercussions of the recent purported leak of classified documents.

Austin and Shmyhal discussed security assistance priorities, such as air defense and artillery and training for the Ukrainian armed forces, Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement.

Austin shared with Shmyhal the key objectives of the next meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group scheduled for April 21 and “commended the bravery of the Ukrainian people and reaffirmed that the United States will continue its support for as long as it takes,” Ryder said.

The contact group includes more than 50 countries that have supplied equipment to support Ukraine.

Austin said the United States will “continue to swiftly deliver security assistance through procurements and from our own stocks,” adding that he is confident that Ukraine’s allies will meet its defense needs “through this spring and beyond.”

Ukraine has indicated it will soon launch a counteroffensive. 

On the battlefield, Russia said its forces struck Ukrainian Army reserves trying to break through to Bakhmut, while the Ukrainian military rejected a Russian claim that its forces have captured more than 80 percent of the besieged city.

Ukraine says its forces repelled 72 attacks over the past day by Russian forces in the east as intense fighting continued around Bakhmut.

“Despite numerous losses in equipment and manpower, the enemy does not give up waging a war of aggression. It continues to focus its main efforts on conducting offensive operations in the Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiyivka, and Maryinka area,” the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said in a statement on April 12.

Serhiy Cherevatiy, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, said the situation in Bakhmut was under control, adding Kyiv would not allow its troops to be encircled. The monthslong battle for Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region has turned into one of the bloodiest since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.

Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed head of Crimea, announced that ceremonies and parades that normally take place on May 1 and May 9 have been canceled.

In addition, he boasted about the defenses of the Russian Army on the illegally annexed peninsula and said that the expected counteroffensive of the Ukrainian armed forces was not frightening.

British intelligence has said that in preparation for the counteroffensive the Russian military has built three lines of defense 120 kilometers long to protect the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, a strategic southern city that has been targeted by Ukrainian shelling in the past.

The document leak, which could be the most serious of U.S. military secrets in years, appear to include secret U.S. assessments of the war dating from late February into March.

One assessment dated February 23 and quoted by Reuters says Russia is unlikely to be able to take the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine.

“Russia’s grinding campaign of attrition in the Donbas region is likely heading toward a stalemate, thwarting Moscow’s goal to capture the entire region in 2023,” reads the assessment.

Russia and Ukraine have questioned the veracity of the documents, while U.S. officials say some of the files appear to have been altered.