Ukraine updates: Pentagon head in Kyiv ahead of US election

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said at a speech in Kyiv that the US "will get Ukraine what it needs" to fight its war with Russia, outlining details of the latest set of military aid.

The Pentagon announced more details on Monday of the latest tranche of military assistance for Ukraine, said to be worth $400 million (roughly €370 million) and to include munitions for rocket systems and artillery, as well as armored vehicles and tank units.

However, Austin gave no hint of the US position on key parts of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's so-called "victory plan," some details of which Ukraine released last week.

After talks with Zelenskyy, Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and other officials in Kyiv, Austin addressed the Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine. 

"There is no silver bullet. No single capability will turn the tide. No one system will end Putin's assault," he told the audience.

But Austin made no mention of US support or a position on two key parts of the victory plan that Ukraine chose to make public last week — an unconditional invitation to join NATO, and clearance from NATO countries to use longer-range weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Austin also said that "the US does not seek war with Russia." 

Few Western leaders have responded directly to the known details of Kyiv's appeal so far, although Zelenskyy said in a video address on Sunday that his plan had secured support from France, Lithuania, Nordic countries and "many other allies," without naming them.

He had spoken of "very positive signals" from the US but stopped short of calling it support. 

It's not clear how much of Zelenskyy's proposal was made public when parts were presented to parliament in Kyiv last week. The main thrust was five demands or appeals from Kyiv — either for conduct in the ongoing combat, or conditions for ending it in the future.

Russia's government said the terms would push NATO towards direct conflict with Moscow, and also implied the ideas originated in the US, despite the muted response to the plan from Washington.

The Kremlin on Monday announced that UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will make his first trip to Russia since April 2022 — shortly after President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Guterres will meet Putin on the sidelines of the upcoming BRICS summit in which Russia and its allies will present themselves as a unified front in the face of Western attempts to isolate Moscow for its aggression.

Without providing further details, the Kremlin said the two men will hold bilateral talks on October 24.

Guterres has been a vocal critic of Russia's war, saying its attempted land grab sets "a dangerous precedent," for the world and calling for a "just peace" to end the conflict.

There are no indications that Putin will be swayed from his current course by the international diplomat as he continues to call for Ukraine to cede territory to Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has flatly rejected Putin's proposal.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday welcomed US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to Kyiv, where the two discussed a number of issues related to Ukraine's ongoing defensive war against Russian aggression.

In a post on the social media platform X, Zelenskyy noted that the two men and their teams discussed defense priorities, further arms production and deliveries, preparations for the coming winter and the expansion of long-range weapons use against Russia.

Zelenskyy expressed gratitude to "US President Joe Biden, both parties in the US Congress and the American people for all their support since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion."
   
Zelenskyy also said he thanked Austin for a recent $400 million (€370 million) US defense assistance package that includes arms and military equipment.

The US is the single biggest donor to Ukraine's war effort, followed by Germany and the UK.

Austin's visit to Ukraine comes ahead of the US presidential election on November 5.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to continue strong US support for Ukraine if she wins reelection, whereas Republican contender former President Donald Trump has threatened to cut off assistance to Ukraine.    

Germany has inaugurated a new multinational naval headquarters for the Baltic Sea aimed at leading operations for NATO during a conflict.

The launch happens as the military alliance increases focus on the area amid rising tensions with Russia.

"Our message to our partners and to those who threaten our peace is simple: Germany stands firmly by its commitments," Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said according to a draft of his speech. 

The event took place at Germany's naval command in the coastal city of Rostock, on the premises of which the headquarters is located.

The facility's establishment underlines the importance of the Baltic Sea for NATO after relations with Russia worsened following the Ukraine war, with the Russian Baltic Fleet based near Kaliningrad.

Since the accession of the Baltic states, NATO must ensure the sea routes remain open in case the narrow land corridor connecting them to Poland becomes blocked in any conflict with Russia.

With more than 99% of the votes counted, the "yes" vote for EU membership in Moldova's referendum was slightly ahead at 50.28% — only 8,000 votes more than the anti-EU camp.

Earlier results appeared to show that Moldovans had rejected plans for the former Soviet republic to add its goal of joining the EU to the constitution.

An EU spokesperson said Moldova's referendum on joining the EU happened with "unprecedented interference" by Russia or its proxies.

Moldova, a former Soviet republic with a population of about 2.5 million, applied to join the EU in the wake of Russia's full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and was granted candidate status that summer, alongside Ukraine. 

NATO Chief Mark Rutte and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol have discussed what Seoul said was a dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia.

Rutte said this would be a violation of UN sanctions and a serious concern, Yoon's office said.  Meanwhile, Seoul said it was sending a delegation to NATO to share information about the alleged deployment plan.

Russia has said it will keep cooperating with North Korea after reports of Pyongyang's troops being trained to fight for Moscow in Ukraine.

"North Korea is our close neighbor and partner and we develop relations in all areas and it's our sovereign right. We will continue developing this cooperation further," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists.

He declined to answer a question on whether Russia is using North Korean troops.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry has summoned Russia's ambassador to Seoul in protest over what it has called the dispatch of North Korean troops to Russia for deployment in Ukraine.

Seoul Vice Foreign Minister Kim Hong-kyun called in Russia's top envoy Georgy Zinoviev to urge the immediate withdrawal of North Korean soldiers. 

Kim said the presence of North Korean troops in the Ukraine war was a violation of UN resolutions and the UN charter. He said it posed serious threats to the security of South Korea and beyond.  

"We condemn North Korea's illegal military cooperation, including its dispatch of troops to Russia, in the strongest terms," the ministry quoted Kim as saying.

"We will respond jointly with the international community by mobilizing all available means against acts that threaten our core security interests." The ministry said Zinoviev told Kim that he would relay the message to Moscow. 

South Korea's spy agency said last week that North Korea had shipped 1,500 special forces troops to Russia's Far East for training and acclimatizing at local military bases. It said they would likely be deployed for combat in the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has accused Pyongyang of preparing to send 10,000 soldiers to Russia. 

He called on Sunday for a strong reaction from countries that have acknowledged North Korea's increasing involvement in the Ukraine war. 

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte has warned both Pyongyang and Moscow about sending North Korean soldiers to fight in the Ukraine war.

The deployment of North Korean soldiers to fight with Russia in North Korea "would mark a significant escalation," Rutte said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after talks with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

The pair also talked about the close relationship between South Korea and the Western military alliance, said Rutte. 

He noted their cooperation in the defense industry and their "interconnected security."

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has made an unannounced visit to Ukraine — his fourth since assuming the position in 2021. 

The trip comes at a precarious time for the country ahead of the US elections, with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump expressing antipathy towards further support for Kyiv.

Austin wrote on X that his trip was meant to demonstrate "that the United States, alongside the international community, continues to stand by Ukraine."

He was expected to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris has vowed to continue military aid to Ukraine should she win on November 5.

The US has been Ukraine's largest military and financial backer since the start of the all-out Russian invasion in February 2022.

Russian forces have advanced slowly and steadily in eastern Ukraine this year. While Zelenskyy has pressed his allies in the West to allow Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia, so far to no avail.

rc/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)