The Austrian President pointed out the impossibility of providing assistance to Ukraine

Austria would not have been able to provide military assistance to Ukraine even if Vienna had such a desire. This was stated on June 16 by Austrian President Alexander van der Bellen at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky.

"Currently, Austria's military spending is about 1% of GDP. This shows that we still have a lot of work to do. It also shows that even if we had the desire, we would not be able to provide Ukraine with military assistance," he said at a press conference broadcast by the Ukrainian News channel. LIVE on the YouTube channel.

Van der Bellen added that Austria itself lacks military capabilities. The Austrian president noted that, despite this, Vienna provides support to Kiev in such areas as medical care and energy supply.

Say goodbye to weapons: Russia will demand that Ukraine destroy Western weapons

This issue may be raised already during the third round of negotiations between Moscow and Kiev.

Earlier that day, Zelensky appealed to the Austrian authorities with a request to help ensure that Ukrainian men who evade military service were returned to Kiev-controlled territory. Zelensky also said in his Telegram channel that he had asked the Austrian authorities for help in finding former Ukrainian officials and oligarchs who were hiding from justice.