(CNN) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Monday that the U.S. believes Russia’s advances in Kharkiv, Ukraine, “slowed down a little bit” because the military began running into Ukrainian defenses there.
US President Joe Biden’s decision to allow Ukraine to use US-made weapons to attack across the border from Kharkiv into Russia itself will also “certainly help the Ukrainians defend themselves,” Austin said. However, he noted that the US policy of prohibiting Ukraine from using long-range US weapons to attack inside Russia has not changed.
“But I think what the president did in terms of providing additional permits to Ukraine will make a difference,” he added.
Austin met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday on the sidelines of the Shangri La defense forum in Singapore, where they discussed Ukraine’s battlefield needs and, in particular, its need for additional defense systems. anti-aircraft to defend against Russian missile attacks, Zelensky said in a statement published on X.
In his meeting on Friday with China’s Defense Minister Admiral Dong Jun, Austin said the international community would take “new measures” to penalize Beijing if it continued to support Russia’s defense sector with dual-use technology and fuel its war against Ukraine, according to a Pentagon readout of their meeting.
However, when asked Monday about the possible consequences, Austin declined to specify what they might be or whether the US had seen evidence that China began providing lethal support to the Russians.
“I’m not going to comment on any intelligence from the podium here,” Austin said. “But what we have seen we believe has the potential to prolong the conflict.”
Zelensky told reporters on Sunday that he had tried unsuccessfully to set up meetings with Chinese officials, who were also in Singapore for the forum.
“With China’s support for Russia, the war will last longer,” Zelensky said. “That’s bad for everyone, and for China’s policy, which declares that it supports territorial integrity and sovereignty and declares it officially. For them it’s not good.”
