The US government intends to further strengthen Ukraine’s air defence, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said on Friday at a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov at the Pentagon. Austin said the United States plans to advocate for a further expansion of the country’s air defence at the Ukraine Contact Group meeting next week at the Ramstein Air Base, a US Air Force base in western Germany. The US and its allies would continue to provide the crucial equipment that Kiev needs to defend against the ongoing Russian invasion, which began in February 2022, Austin said. He condemne…