Pentagon Chief Visits Ukraine in Show of Support Ahead of US Election

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Ukraine on Monday, in a show of solidarity with Kyiv just two weeks ahead of a US presidential election that is casting uncertainty over the future of Western support.
Austin's trip, his fourth and likely final visit as President Joe Biden's Pentagon chief, will include in-depth discussions about US efforts to help Kyiv shore up its defenses as Russian forces gain ground in eastern Ukraine.
But it is not expected to include any new agreement to some of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's biggest requests, such as lifting Washington's restrictions on using US-supplied weapons to hit targets far beyond Ukraine's borders.
As Biden's administration winds down, Austin signaled continuity in US support.
"We're going to continue to support Ukraine in its efforts to defend its sovereign territory," Austin told reporters traveling with him to Ukraine.
"We've watched this fight evolve over time. And each time that it does evolve, we have risen to the occasion to meet (Ukraine's) needs to make sure that they were effective on the battlefield."
As Austin stepped off the train in Kyiv after an overnight journey from Poland, Ukrainian officials reported new Russian attacks on the Ukrainian capital, with several waves of drones for the second night in a row, damaging residential buildings and injuring at least one civilian.
Austin's visit comes ahead of the Nov. 5 US presidential vote, in which former president Donald Trump, the Republican candidate, is seeking re-election in a close race against Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.
Trump has signaled he would be more reluctant than Biden to continue to support Ukraine, which could deprive Kyiv of its biggest military and financial backer.
Austin played down such concerns.
"I've seen bipartisan support for Ukraine over the last 2-1/2 years, and I fully expect that we'll continue to see the bipartisan support from Congress," he said.
The retired four star general has been one of Ukraine's staunchest advocates, building a coalition of dozens of nations which has supplied Kyiv with weaponry that has helped it deal heavy blows to Russian forces.
One US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Russia had suffered 600,000 casualties of killed and wounded troops in Ukraine so far, with September being its heaviest month of fatalities and injuries.
But Russian President Vladimir Putin seems content to invest more and more forces in a costly advance in eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, which Moscow claims as its own territory.
In recent weeks, Russia has surrounded towns in the Donetsk region and then slowly constricted them until Ukrainian units are forced to withdraw.
"It's a very tough fight and it's a tough slog," Austin said.
'VICTORY PLAN'
Meanwhile, Kyiv has been seeking to keep its war in focus in the West, even as the expanding conflicts in the Middle East grab the international spotlight.
Zelenskiy last met Austin last Thursday at NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he pitched his "victory plan". He received pledges of continued support but no endorsement from key allies of his call for an immediate NATO-membership invitation.
Asked on Friday in Brussels about the victory plan, Austin said: "It's not my position to evaluate publicly his plan."
Kyiv may need to start making tough decisions about how to employ its stretched fighting forces, including whether it will hold onto territory Kyiv seized in Russia's Kursk region in a surprise offensive this summer, experts say.
The Kursk offensive caught Austin and the US government off-guard. Kyiv hoped it would wrest the battlefield initiative from Russia, including by diverting Moscow's forces from the eastern front.
But Putin has remained focused on seizing the key city of Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine, which is an important logistics hub for Kyiv's war effort.
Even with billions of dollars worth of US military support, including the provision of F-16 fighter jets, Abrams tanks and more, Ukraine faces a tough fight ahead.
Although its invasion of Ukraine has inflicted blows to Russia's economy, made it more isolated diplomatically and battered its military, Russia "is not ready to call it quits", a senior US defense official said.
"And so that does place a steep burden on the Ukrainians," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

An Istanbul prosecutor has indicted 47 people, including doctors and nurses, over the inappropriate treatment of babies for profit, causing the death of at least 10 newborns in one of Türkiye's biggest health scandals in recent years.

The Health Ministry has shut down nine private hospitals as a result of the investigation, with a total 19 health institutions deemed to bear responsibility, the indictment said.

The suspects are accused of creating a criminal group to put newborns in certain private hospitals and receive payments from Türkiye's social security body for inappropriate and sometimes fake treatments, the indictment obtained by Reuters said.

The main opposition CHP party has sought a parliamentary inquiry into the affair and called for the resignation of Health Minister Kemal Memisoglu. He has said his ministry's inspections of hospitals will now be carried out "more strictly than ever".

Two of the suspects, working on an emergency phone line, had sought newborns that could be sent to these hospitals for intensive care treatment, according to the 1,399-page indictment, filed in an Istanbul court last week.

It said newborns then became the victims of malpractice or inadequate medical care, with medicine meant for them sold to others and some dying due to infections contracted in the units.

The goal of the criminal gang was "to obtain financial gain, rather than improving the health conditions of the patients," it added.

The suspects, including two doctors and 11 nurses, denied the charges, saying they had not intentionally sent the newborns to particular hospitals and that the babies had received the necessary treatment, the indictment said.

The charges the suspects face include forming a criminal group, fraud, forgery of official documents and murder by negligence. Some defendants could be sentenced to as many as 589 years in jail if found guilty.

Twenty-two suspects have been jailed pending trial.

Pentagon Chief Visits Ukraine in Show of Support Ahead of US Election