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US allies should lift restrictions on defensive lethal supplies to Ukraine, says Pentagon

The US has provided Javelin anti-armor systems to Ukraine, the Pentagon official noted

WASHINGTON, October 29. /TASS/. US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Laura Cooper considers it necessary for all Washington’s allies to lift restrictions on defensive lethal assistance supplied to Kiev.

"Well, the first thing I would mention is that I would like to see all allies lift their restrictions on defensive lethal assistance," she said Thursday at an online event organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington when asked what kind of assistance to Kiev the American side expects from its partners.

The US has provided Javelin anti-armor systems to Ukraine, the Pentagon official noted. "That's an example of a defensively lethal capability that we have provided and you still have a number of allies who have that as a restriction somehow, as a restriction in terms of their security assistance programs, but some also have it as a restriction in terms of their sales," she explained.

"I believe that Ukraine should be able to purchase the capabilities that it needs to defend herself," Cooper said. "So I would like to see that restriction lifted," she added.

Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said earlier this month that US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s encouragement of Kiev’s revanchist sentiment increased the tensions at the Donbass contact line.

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