April 23, 2022
- By RFE/RL
Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has said that Ukraine is expecting an invitation to a NATO summit next week in Germany initiated by the United States.
The Pentagon has invited 40 allies to meet in Germany on April 26 to discuss Ukraine and its longer-term security needs.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said defense ministers and senior generals from 20 countries, NATO and non-NATO members, have already accepted the invitation from U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.
It will reportedly take place at the Ramstein Air Base in western Germany.
Ukrainians continue to battle Russian forces trying to take eastern and southern territory in a nearly two-month-old, all-out war following eight years of Russian assistance to armed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to hold talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow next week in an attempt to discuss bringing peace to Ukraine.
Ukraine has made its intention to join NATO part of its constitution, although President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has also acknowledged that such a goal is unlikely in the near term.
But in addition to weapons and other support, he has appealed to NATO and other countries to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine to help its forces repel Russia, sparking intense debate within NATO.
Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the major developments on Russia's invasion, how Kyiv is fighting back, the plight of civilians, and Western reaction. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.
U.S. President Joe Biden and others have orchestrated major weapons shipments and other support for Ukraine, and have warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against his forces crossing "one inch" into NATO members' territory.
Underscoring Kyiv's recent plea for increased military assistance to beat back the Russian invasion, Russia's Defense Ministry said on April 23 that it had shot down a Ukrainian Su-25 fighter jet and destroyed three MI-8 military helicopters at an airfield in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine.
There was no immediate way to confirm the Russian assertion, and Ukrainian officials did not initially respond to the claim.
Russia said a day earlier that it captured a large arms depot in Kharkiv, a report that was also difficult to confirm.
An adviser to the head of Zelenskiy's office, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said on April 23 that negotiations on possible security guarantees for Ukraine from foreign partners were under way and could be completed within as little as a week.
Speaking on a telethon to raise support for Ukraine, Podolyak said that "Of course, there will be different package guarantees," but he added that "It is important for us to supply weapons, close the skies, military consultations, and the means to quickly purchase additional weapons."
Advisers to leaders of the United States, Britain, Turkey, Poland, Germany, France, and Israel have reportedly expressed readiness to discuss a list of security guarantees for Ukraine.
The acting commander of Russia's Central Military District, Rustam Minnekayev, said on April 22 that full control of southern Ukraine was a strategic goal to allow access to Moldova's pro-Russian breakaway region of Transdniester.
Kyiv has repeatedly warned that Transdniester could be used as a staging area for Russian operations against Ukraine or against Moldova, a non-NATO member that shares a border and a common history with NATO member Romania.
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