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Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Wednesday that he is confident that Washington, NATO, and Ukraine’s other allies will supply arms for as long as it takes for the country to defend its sovereignty.
Austin stressed that not only is the U.S. defense industry providing armaments to Ukraine, but so are many other nations, including Latvia, in whose capital, Riga, he participated in a press briefing.
Asked whether Russia is a threat to Latvia and the other Baltic countries, Austin replied that the fighting in Ukraine has led Moscow to lose quite a bit of weaponry and a huge number of men, so it is less capable as a land power.
Austin warned, however, that Russia will try to regenerate its military capabilities.
For his part, Latvian Defense Minister Artis Pabriks stressed that the outcome of the war in Ukraine must be that Russia loses and Ukraine wins, for if this is not the case, war will follow for them.
Pabriks also stated that Belarus, which shares a border with Latvia, has de facto become a part of Russia.
The U.S. Defense Secretary visited Latvia’s main military base in Adazi, north of the capital, which houses a battle group composed mainly of Canadian soldiers, with the addition of troops from Spain and nine other countries.
Austin also met with Latvian Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš, with whom he discussed possibilities for strengthening bilateral cooperation, including arms purchases, according to the Latvian head of government’s office.
Austin’s visit to Latvia was the first by a U.S. defense secretary since Riga and its two other Baltic neighbors joined NATO in 2004.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Latvia has supplied military equipment to Kyiv, including Stinger anti-aircraft missiles, ammunition, and personal equipment, worth 200 million euros.
