US defense chief visits Kyiv for talks on how to keep supporting Ukraine’s fight [Video]

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv on an unannounced visit Monday, hours after a Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital and as Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy pushes Western partners to keep providing military support for the war.

Austin said on the X platform that his fourth visit shows “that the United States, alongside the international community, continues to stand by Ukraine.”

Ukraine is having difficulty holding back a ferocious Russian campaign along the eastern front that is gradually compelling Kyiv’s forces to give up a series of towns, villages and hamlets.

Zelenskyy is urging Western allies to support his so-called “victory plan” to end the almost three-year war, which is Europe’s biggest since World War II and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides, including many civilians.

His strategy includes a formal invitation for Ukraine to join NATO and permission to use Western long-range …