Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Three senior U.S. security officials had a video call with a group of Ukrainian counterparts to discuss military aid to Kiev, U.S. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff said Saturday.
“We discussed the further delivery of necessary assistance to our country, especially vehicles, weapons and ammunition,” Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram.
Yermak said he, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, top general Valery Zaluzhny and several other senior commanders and officials were in attendance.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, top military commander Mark Milley and White House national security adviser Jack Sullivan represented the other side.
Yelmak did not provide details of the specific request to the US side.
The meeting comes as Kiev is seeking to gather enough arms supplies from its Western backers, of which the United States is the most important, to launch a counteroffensive and try to retake territory captured by Moscow last year.
Yermak added that Zelensky joined the meeting at the end to offer his views on the liberation of Ukrainian territories occupied since Russia’s invasion nearly 13 months ago.
“We briefed our allies in detail on the current situation on the front lines, operations in the most difficult areas, and the urgent needs of the Ukrainian military,” Yelmak said.
Ukrainian troops continued to resist a Russian attack on the city of Bakhmut on Friday as Russia has been trying for eight months to pass through the industrial Donetsk region on Ukraine’s eastern border with Russia.