Top Ukraine, U.S. defense officials discussed military aid in call, Kyiv says

Three elder U.S. information officials held a video telephone with a radical of their Ukrainian counterparts to sermon subject assistance to Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's main of unit said connected Saturday.

"We discussed the further proviso of indispensable assistance to our country, successful peculiar vehicles, weapons and ammunition," Andriy Yermak wrote connected Telegram.

Yermak said he, Ukraine's Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov, apical wide Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, and respective different elder commanders and officials had attended the meeting.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, apical subject commandant Mark Milley, and the White House nationalist information advisor Jake Sullivan represented the different side.

Yermak did not springiness details of circumstantial requests to the U.S. side.

The gathering took spot arsenic Kyiv seeks to stitchery capable supplies of arms from its Western backers, of which the U.S. has been the astir significant, to equine a counter-offensive and effort to instrumentality backmost territory captured by Moscow past year.

Yermak added that Zelenskyy had joined the gathering astatine the extremity to springiness his views connected the liberation of Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia since its penetration astir 13 months ago.

"We briefed our allies successful item astir the existent concern astatine the front, combat operations successful the astir hard areas, arsenic good arsenic the urgent needs of the Ukrainian army," Yermak said.

Ukrainian forces continued connected Friday to withstand Russian assaults connected the ruined metropolis of Bakhmut, the focal constituent for 8 months of Russian attempts to beforehand done the concern Donetsk portion successful eastbound Ukraine bordering Russia.