Ukraine Continues Valiant Defense Against Russian Invaders

The United States continues to stand with Ukraine as the country stands against Russian aggression, said senior Defense Department officials briefing the press on background.

President Joe Biden was supposed to go to a meeting of the coalition supporting Ukraine but remained in the U.S. to direct support for areas in the path of Hurricane Milton which is set to make landfall in Florida later today.

The senior defense official discussed recent U.S. moves to support Ukraine. Biden met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Sept. 26 and assured him that "the administration remains focused on surging security assistance and taking other steps through the end of the term to help Ukraine prevail."

Biden also exercised his authority to ensure the $5.55 billion of remaining presidential drawdown authority did not expire with the fiscal year. This ensures the United States can continue supporting Ukraine with this drawdown authority.

DOD will provide Ukraine capabilities to meet its most urgent battlefield needs, including air-to-ground weapons, munitions for rocket systems and artillery, armored vehicles and antitank weapons.

In addition to the drawdown authority, Biden also announced a $2.4 billion Ukraine security assistance initiative package that will provide additional air defense, unmanned aerial systems and air-to-ground munitions. The USAI will also strengthen Ukraine's defense industrial base and support its maintenance and sustainment requirements, the official said.

Specifically, this effort will enhance Ukraine's drone capabilities, providing thousands of unmanned aerial vehicles and components to enable Ukraine's domestic production of drones.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, the Ukrainian military has inflicted more than 600,000 casualties on Russian forces, the senior defense official said. This past month, "Russian forces sustained more casualties in terms of both killed and wounded in action than in any other month of the war," she said. "Russian losses, again, both killed and wounded in action in just the first year of the war exceeded the total of all Russian losses, or Soviet losses in any conflict since World War II combined."

The official noted that Ukrainian forces also have sunk, destroyed or damaged at least 32 medium to large Russian navy vessels in the Black Sea. This has forced Russia to relocate its Black Sea Fleet away from Crimea.

Ukrainian forces have destroyed more than two-thirds of Russia's pre-war inventory of tanks prompting Russian President Vladimir Putin to equip front-line forces with Soviet-era stockpiles and tanks from World War II.

Overall, there have been no major changes in strategy on either side, said a senior military official. Russia is throwing troops into the fight with an attritional strategy in the eastern provinces in Ukraine. "The Ukrainians are mounting a strong defense, both on the ground and from an air defense perspective," he said.

The two most active areas on the battlefield are in the Russian province of Kursk and the Ukrainian area of Donetsk. "I would say that there have been minor changes to the forward line of troops in both of those areas," he said.

In Kursk, Russia has launched some limited counterattacks, but they have been ineffective. In Donetsk, the Russians have made some gains during the summer, but those advances have slowed.

"As far as long-range strikes, we've seen some successful one-way attack drone strikes by the Ukrainians against ammo storage points in Russia," the military official said. "We've also seen some strikes against fuel facilities in Crimea. We do think that those will have some impact on the battlefield."

The official highlighted Ukrainian air defense efforts. "It's a tough fight with a large number of attacks coming from the Russians each day, but the Ukrainians are doing a sound job of defending their critical infrastructure and defending at the front lines," he said. "We, of course, are keeping a very close eye on their inventories of weapons that they have to defend themselves and working that with our policy counterparts to try to increase the stocks that they have on hand for their defense against those attacks."

Both officials see a tough road ahead for Ukraine. Putin continues to devote a significant amount of resources to the fight. "Despite Ukraine's offensive into Kursk, Russia has also demonstrated time and time again, a willingness to do whatever it takes to attempt to force the Ukrainians to capitulate, including purposely targeting Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure," the senior defense official said. "Despite these challenges, the United States and our allies and partners remain committed to supporting Ukraine as it defends against Russian aggression."