U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on September 6 that no single military weapon will be decisive for Ukraine to defeat Russia's full-scale invasion and that the use of donated U.S. weapons for long-range strikes into Russia would not turn the tide of the war in Ukraine's favor.
Speaking after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, Austin told reporters that Russia had moved its glide bombs back to positions beyond the range of U.S.-made Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).
He also noted that Ukraine itself had significant capabilities to attack targets well beyond the range of the British Storm Shadow cruise missile.
Austin made the comments after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy personally appealed to the group for more weapons support from its Western allies and called on allies to allow Ukraine to use the weapons they provided to strike deeper inside Russia.
"We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine but also on Russian territory so that Russia is motivated to seek peace,” Zelenskiy said at the meeting with top U.S. military leaders and more than 50 partner countries.
"We need to make Russian cities and even Russian soldiers think about what they need: peace or Putin," he told the gathering hosted by Austin.
Russian forces have made gains in eastern Ukraine around the city of Pokrovsk, a crucial supply hub for the Ukrainian military. Moscow’s military gains have continued despite a surprise cross-border incursion by Ukrainian forces into Russia's Kursk region last month.
Kyiv claims its army has captured about 1,300 kilometers of Russian territory and killed or wounded about 6,000 Russian soldiers.
While the incursion has put Russia on the defensive, "we know Putin's malice runs deep," Austin said in remarks to the media ahead of the meeting. Russian forces continue to press on, especially around Pokrovsk, Austin said.
Austin annnounced a new $250 million security assistance package at the meeting, saying it will provide "more capabilities to meet Ukraine's evolving requirements."
The assistance includes ammunition for High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and anti-tank and antiaircraft weapons.
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Since 2022, the member states of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group together have provided about $106 billion in security assistance to Kyiv. The United States, Ukraine's biggest supporter during the conflict, has provided more than $56 billion of that total, according to Pentagon.
Zelenskiy met later with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Frankfurt, and the two leaders discussed preparations for the second summit on peace in Ukraine.
"I greatly appreciate sharing our efforts to bring a just peace closer," Zelenskiy said on X.
Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said Germany will supply Ukraine with 12 more self-propelled howitzers valued at 150 million euros. Half of them will arrive by the end of the year and the remainder will follow in 2025. They have a firing range of 30 kilometers.
"Germany's position is absolutely clear: We will support Ukraine for as long as it is necessary," Pistorius said. "It is important to protect the freedom, sovereignty and territorial integrity of sovereign states against aggressors such as Russia. Ultimately, we are also doing this in our own interests."
As the allied partners met, Russia continued its persistent drone and missile strikes on Ukrainian cities and regions. At least five people were wounded in the latest Russian attacks across Ukraine, Kyiv said on September 6, adding that air defenses shot down 27 out of 44 Russian drones launched overnight.
A missile attack in the morning on September 6 damaged residential buildings and injured three people in the northeastern Kharkiv region, local authorities said.
Overnight attacks wounded two people, damaged at least 12 homes, and impacted power lines and gas pipelines in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, officials said. Falling debris from a downed Shahed drone in the western Lviv region caused a fire at a warehouse, destroying four vehicles, according to local authorities.