The announcement was made Thursday morning by US Minister Lloyd Austin at the Ramstein US base in Germany, where kyiv’s allies are meeting to coordinate their support.

This new American aid includes in particular guided multiple rocket launcher systems called GMLRS, “105 mm howitzers, artillery ammunition, as well as Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems, small arms, and more”, a detailed Mr. Austin in front of the press.

Other countries, including Germany, should also announce new aid during the day.

These shipments are bearing fruit on the ground, assured Mr. Austin. “Today we see the clear success of our joint efforts on the battlefield,” he said.

– “good news” –

“Every day we see the determination of allies and partners around the world who are helping Ukraine resist Russia’s illegal, imperial and indefensible war of conquest,” Austin said.

This fifth meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group, at the invitation of the American minister, is intended to testify to the “unity and solidarity” of Ukraine’s allies, according to the American chief of staff, General Mark Milley.

Representatives of more than 40 countries and international organizations meet there to discuss, in particular, the challenges that the conflict poses in terms of arms production.

“Ammunition consumption is very important in this war in Ukraine,” General Milley explained to the journalists accompanying him.

The objective is “to try to determine the needs, the demands and then to compare this with the supply, whether it is the stocks of the countries or what can be produced by the defense industry”, he said. he added on the plane that brought him from Washington.

Artillery is decisive in the conflict. Particularly hungry for projectiles of all kinds, the Ukrainian and Russian armies are waging a war of ammunition attrition, the stocks of which are crucial.

Ukraine has been carrying out a counter-offensive in the south of its territory since last week, and President Zelensky has repeatedly affirmed that he wants to take back “all the regions under Russian occupation”, including Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014 .

He reported Thursday evening “good news from the Kharkiv region”, referring to “localities where the Ukrainian flag has returned”.

Ukraine has exhausted all of its Russian-made weaponry and its defense is now totally dependent on Western military aid.

For its part, Russia has turned to North Korea to buy large quantities of rockets and artillery shells, according to Washington.

– No long range –

The United States, the first supplier of military aid to Ukraine, promised in August to provide 13.5 billion dollars worth of various armaments, in particular Javelin anti-tank missiles, artillery pieces and shells compatible with the NATO artillery systems.

kyiv would like longer range weapons of the ATACMS type, which can strike at 300 km, but the United States refuses, fearing that these missiles will target targets in Russian territory, which could cause a widening of the conflict.

The United States alone provides three-quarters of the shells to NATO standards, underlined the spokesman for the American staff, Colonel Dave Butler.

“More than 10 contact group countries provide 155mm caliber artillery pieces, and 15 countries donate 155mm ammunition,” he said.

All arms donations to Ukraine are calculated so as not to weaken the military capabilities of the donor countries, but ammunition stocks must be able to be replenished regularly, hence the need to revitalize the production of the defense industry, explained the spokesperson.

“U.S. ammunition supplies to Ukraine are not tied specifically to the annual production capabilities of a given armament by the U.S. defense industry, but that production capability is one of the factors considered,” he said. he concluded.