US urges allies to 'dig deep' with arms in Ukraine's fight against Russia

The United States has called on its allies to "dig deep" and provide more weapons and ammunition to Ukraine as Kiev faces a tough fight in its counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Army General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made an appeal on Thursday while speaking after holding a meeting of the US-led Contact Group of some 50 countries that give military aid to Ukraine.

"Ukraine has begun their attack and they are making steady progress. This is a very difficult fight. It's a very violent fight, and it will likely take a considerable amount of time at a high cost," Milley said at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also told the meeting in opening remarks that the group had already given Patriot, IRIS-T and NASAMS air defense systems. But he said Ukraine needed even more.

"I ask that the members of this Contact Group continue to dig deep to provide Ukraine with the air defense assets and munitions that it so urgently needs to protect its citizens," Austin said.

"We'll also continue to adapt our assistance to meet the changing circumstances on the ground in the changing needs of Ukraine's forces," he added. 

It was the 13th meeting of the group, which Washington set up last year to coordinate Western aid for Kiev.

Later in the day, NATO ministers met separately with Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov to discuss their support for Kiev.  Reznikov also briefed his counterparts on Ukraine's counteroffensive, which Kiev launched this month.

The NATO ministers will also meet with defense industry bosses to urge them to ramp up production capacity so NATO allies can provide more munitions to Ukraine.

Media reports, citing NATO sources, said on Thursday that Ukraine would get a further 14 Leopard-2 battle tanks worth a three-digit million euro sum from Western partners, financed by Denmark and the Netherlands.

Contracts for the new delivery have already been signed and the German government was involved as it has to agree to the export of vehicles.

The vehicles will be supplied and refurbished by the Rheinmetall group. Delivery of the battle tanks is to take place by the end of January.

In a video address to both houses of the Swiss parliament on Thursday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged Switzerland to allow the re-export of weapons to Ukraine. 

"I know there is a discussion in Switzerland about the exportation of war material to protect and defend Ukraine. That would be vital," Zelensky said.

"We need weapons so we can restore peace in Ukraine," he added. 

Switzerland has a long-standing policy of barring any country that buys its arms from re-exporting them to parties in a conflict.

In November last year, it imposed an embargo on Swiss munitions being sent to either Russia or Ukraine.

Elsewhere in the speech, Zelensky thanked Switzerland for adopting EU sanctions over the invasion but said more was needed.

"It is very important to show solidarity because these sanctions will help us to end aggression," the Ukrainian president said. "We have to strengthen the sanctions."

Despite having adopted EU sanctions and frozen Russian assets worth 7.5 billion Swiss francs ($556 million), Switzerland has denied requests from some EU countries to re-export Swiss ammunition, weaponry and military vehicles to Ukraine.

Germany recently asked Swiss authorities to sell mothballed Leopard 2 tanks to arms maker Rheinmetall, which would allow the company to backfill gaps in the armaments of NATO members that have sent tanks to Ukraine.

The Wall Street Journal said in a report that Japan was in talks to provide artillery shells to the US to help bolster stocks for Ukraine’s counteroffensive against Russia,

WSJ sources added that Japan is considering supplying 155-mm artillery shells under a 2016 pact to share ammunition as part of its security alliance with the US.

The Japanese defense ministry says it has not yet made a final decision on the provision of shells.

A Pentagon spokesman said it is up to each country to decide what it could provide.

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Ukraine's military said on Thursday that its forces have advanced on key sectors of the front line in a counteroffensive against Russian forces. It added Kiev forces had regained control of over 100 square km (38 square miles) of territory during the battles.

The land recaptured in just over a week is a fraction of the territory Russia holds in Ukraine.

Media reports could not immediately verify the Ukrainian claims. 

Russia’s Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Russian forces successfully hit drone production facilities in Ukraine using high-precision, long-range weapons.

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The ministry also said Russian air defenses had intercepted five US-built HIMARS-launched missiles and shot down 25 drones.

Russia has accused the West of becoming directly involved in the Ukraine war by supplying the country with weapons and training its soldiers.

Russia says the operation in Ukraine has been in order to defend the pro-Russia population in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk against alleged persecution by Kiev.

Ever since the war began, Kiev's allies, led by the United States and Britain, have been supplying Ukraine with weapons, a step that Russia says would prolong the conflict.

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