U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is in Brussels to host a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which includes ministers from almost 50 countries assisting Kyiv’s war efforts. While visiting the NATO headquarters, he tweeted that the United States will “resolve to continue to support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” and that the participants of the conference “stand united” with Kyiv. He also met his Ukrainian counterpart and praised “Ukraine’s brave defenders.”
Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg reiterated Thursday that financial and military aid was making a difference on the battlefield, as Ukraine’s highly anticipated counteroffensive begins. He said “fierce fighting” was underway as the alliance moves to strengthen defense spending. Earlier this week, Stoltenberg met with Biden in Washington to discuss the ongoing conflict.
Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.
Zaporizhzhia steel plant refuses to bend to Russian attacks: Workers at a steel plant near the front lines of a counteroffensive in southeastern Ukraine aren’t cowed by the air raid sirens that regularly sound as they’re working with the molten metal at temperatures up to 1,100 degrees Celsius, The Post’s Adam Taylor reports.
“People just adapted,” 29-year-old Oleksii Klashnik said. He and other steelworkers wore protective vests along with their heatproof outfits. The plant has never been hit, Klashnik added, but “you can definitely hear the explosions in the city.”