An American proposal to supply Ukraine with fighter jets… and European readiness for a “long battle”

capitals (agencies)

The Pentagon announced yesterday that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Chief of Staff of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley will present new plans to provide Kyiv with British and American fighter jets and tanks, during their chairing next week of the meetings of the “International Defense Support Group for Ukraine” at the Ramstein base of the Russian Federation. of NATO forces in Germany.
This coincided with statements by NATO Supreme Commander General Todd Walters, in which he affirmed that he “encourages NATO countries to provide the Ukrainian Air Force with fighter jets” to face the next phase of the battles with Russia.
This comes as Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu appointed Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov to oversee the Russian military campaign in Ukraine, in the latest change in Moscow’s military leadership.
The Defense Ministry said in a statement that Shoigu had appointed Gerasimov as commander of the combined forces group of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine.
Russia elevated Sergei Surovikin to be its supreme battlefield commander last October, following a series of Ukrainian counterattacks that turned the tide of the conflict. The Defense Ministry said Surovikin would remain Gerasimov’s deputy.
The ministry said the changes are designed to increase the efficiency of conducting military operations in Ukraine, more than 10 months into the campaign.
For his part, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Bilstrom, whose country heads the European Union, said yesterday that the Union is ready for long battles in Ukraine, and will support Kyiv in the face of the Russian attack, no matter how long it takes. “The unity within the European Union and across the Atlantic is strong, and the European Union is ready for long battles, and it will continue to support Ukraine with political, economic, military and humanitarian support, no matter how long it takes,” Bellstrom told a news conference. The Russian and Ukrainian armies are currently engaged in the “most violent” battles to control the cities of Solidar and Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, according to Mykhailo Podolyak, the Ukrainian presidential advisor yesterday.