\u201cUkraine Defense Contact Group\u201d<\/em> in Ramstein, Germany, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin boasted that Kiev has so far received 126 of the M777 howitzers since April, and a total of 26 multiple-launch rocket systems \u2013 including the US-made HIMARS \u2013 capable of firing long-range missiles.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\nAustin claimed the weapons have \u201cdemonstrably\u201d<\/em> helped Ukraine in the conflict, but said it was time for NATO to \u201csustain Ukraine\u2019s brave defenders for the long haul\u201d<\/em> by \u201cmoving urgently to innovate and to push all of our defense industrial bases\u201d<\/em> so they could supply Kiev on \u201cthe hard road ahead.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nOf other countries that have chipped in, Austin singled out the UK for sending 2.3 billion pounds in military aid, and Poland for \u201cserving as the linchpin of our efforts to support the Ukrainians,\u201d <\/em>including \u201cgenerous donations\u201d<\/em> of tanks and artillery.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBy the Pentagon\u2019s own admission, the US has committed \u201cmore than $17.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine\u201d<\/em> since 2014, and another $14.5 billion since February. Just this week, the US State Department pledged another $2 billion for long-term investments in military industry, half to Ukraine and half to 18 of its neighbors. <\/p>\n\n\n\nRussia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev\u2019s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian president Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev\u2019s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and \u201ccreate powerful armed forces.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nIn February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n