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U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Monday.
The visit comes hours after a Russian drone strike on the city, as President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continues to push for increased Western military support.
Austin emphasized on a post made from his X account that his fourth visit demonstrates “that the United States, alongside the international community, continues to stand by Ukraine.”
Ukraine is currently struggling to repel a fierce Russian offensive along the eastern front, with Zelenskyy urging Western allies to back his ‘victory plan’ to end the nearly three-year conflict.
On Thursday, Zelensky arrived to 10 Downing Street in London to meet with officials from Britain and NATO, including U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte. Zelensky later traveled to Paris on Thursday to meet with President Emmanuel Macron.
Although the full details of Zelensky’s “victory plan” were not made public, he said after his meeting in London that the plan “aims to create the right conditions for a just end to the war” against Russia.
U.K. officials including Defense Secretary John Healey and Armed Forces Chief Admiral Tony Radakin attended the meeting at Downing Street. Starmer described the session as an opportunity to “go through the plan, to talk in more detail.”
“We have agreed to work on it together with our allies,” Zelensky said of the meeting in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Ukraine remains heavily dependent on Western support, including tens of billions of dollars in military and financial aid, as it continues its nearly 1,000-day battle against its much larger adversary, Russia.
Concerned that shifting political landscapes in Western donor countries could threaten vital support, Ukraine has ramped up efforts to strengthen its domestic arms industry. The government is also seeking additional funding from taxpayers to sustain the war effort.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian parliament approved a bill on second reading that would raise the military tax from 1.5 percent to 5 percent, with some amendments expected before it becomes law.
While the specifics of Zelensky’s plan for victory over Russia remain under wraps, key elements have surfaced, including a push for swift action on decisions that Western allies have been considering since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press
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