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BRUSSELS – The United States cautioned on Tuesday that Russia still has a strong air force, underscoring the need to provide more aid to Ukraine as Russia continues its offensive in the eastern region of Donbass.
Security officers from over 50 countries meeting in brussels Discussed providing Ukraine to coordinate aid to Kiev more artilleryAmmunition and armor – but air defense amid concerns about Russian jets in particular.
A senior US administration official said, “Although the Russian capabilities – the ground forces – are very disjointed, very, very ragged, very little, the Russians still have quite a significant air force.”
“If you look at their fixed-wing and rotary aircraft, [there is] A lot of action at the border, a lot of preparations there, they can get things out of long-term storage,” the official said.
Russia, the official said, is “obviously … preparing some sort of offensive,” pointing to “large-scale mobilization” and “some preponderance of air assets” as two main indicators.
Asked about Moscow’s plans, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin acknowledged Russia’s capabilities, but downplayed concerns over any imminent air campaign.
“We don’t see that at the moment in terms of whether Russia is massively ramping up its planes for a major air strike,” Austin told a news conference in Brussels.
Nevertheless, he added: “We know that Russia has a substantial number of aircraft in its inventory and a lot of potential left.”
“That’s why,” Austin said, “we’ve emphasized that we need to do everything we can to get Ukraine as much air defense capability as possible.”
He also said that “Ukraine has done an incredible job of intercepting a lot of rockets and missiles,” and that Kiev’s partners want to make sure Ukraine can defend itself if Russia brings its air force into the fight. .
“They haven’t done it so far,” he said, “because Ukraine’s air defenses have been very effective.”
experts to signal That early days of the war proved costly for Russian aircraft, leading Moscow to limit the use of warplanes in Ukrainian airspace.
But now, the senior administration official said, the fact that Russian ground forces are lacking is “the best indication that they will turn this into a dogfight.”
General Mark Milley, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, explained how Russian forces are fighting in the Donbas despite having numbers.
Speaking with the secretary, Milley told reporters that “from Kharkiv to Kherson, the front line is fairly stable – albeit very violent, lots of fighting.”
is in the zone of greatest movement Bakhmut“It is a very significant, attrition battle with very high casualties, especially on the Russian side,” he said, describing the situation on the ground.
“How long will this go on? It’s hard to say exactly, it’s been going on for weeks,” the general said, “I don’t think the Ukrainians will just capitulate or fall, I think they’ll keep fighting.”