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Ukraine crisis exposed flaws in West’s defense industry that are yet to be fixed — Austin

The 25th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on coordinating weapons supplies to Kiev took place at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on January 9

BERLIN, January 9. /TASS/. The conflict in Ukraine allowed Western countries to identify drawbacks in their own military industries, which are far from being fixed, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said after a meeting of contact group on military aid to Ukraine.

"The Ukraine crisis exposed some shortcomings in our defense industrial base," he told reporters at a media stakeout, held at the Ramstein air base in Germany. "We still got a lot more work to do, but we have galvanized our own defense industry, investing nearly $70 billion at home to produce capabilities for Ukraine and replenish our own stocks."

The 25th meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on coordinating weapons supplies to Kiev took place at Ramstein Air Base in Germany on January 9. A senior Pentagon official said earlier this week that Western countries had committed more than $126 bln in security assistance to Kiev since the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.

The Russian authorities have repeatedly said that pumping weapons into Ukraine would not weaken Russia's resolve and would not change the course of the special military operation.

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