Zelenskyy and Austin use their final meeting to press Trump to keep supporting Ukraine

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin used their final meeting Thursday to press the incoming Trump administration not to give up on Kyiv’s fight, with Austin warning that to cease military support now “will only invite more aggression, chaos and war.”

“We’ve come such a long way that it would honestly be crazy to drop the ball now and not keep building on the defense coalitions we’ve created,” Zelenskyy said. “No matter what’s going on in the world, everyone wants to feel sure that their country will not just be erased off the map.”

President-elect Donald Trump’s pronouncements about pushing for a quick end to the war, his kinship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and uncertainty over whether he will support further military aid to Ukraine have triggered concern among allies.

The Biden administration has worked to provide Ukraine with as much military support as it can, including approving a new $500 million package of weapons and relaxing restrictions on missile strikes into Russia, with the aim of putting Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations to end the war.

Austin doubled down on Zelenskyy's appeal, saying “no responsible leader will let Putin have his way.”

And while Austin acknowledged he has no idea what Trump will do, he said the international leaders gathered Thursday at Ramstein Air Base talked about the need to continue the mission.

The leaders were attending a gathering of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, a consortium of about 50 partner nations that Austin brought together months after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 to coordinate weapons support.

“I’m leaving this contact group not with a farewell but with a challenge. The coalition to support Ukraine must not flinch. It must not falter. And it must not fail,” Austin said during his final press conference. “Ukraine’s survival is on the line. But so is all of our security.”

Some discussed what they would do if the U.S. backed away from its support for Kyiv, if the contact group would assume a new shape under one of its major European contributors, such as Germany. Germany’s Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said his country and several other European nations are discussing options.

Austin said the continuation of the group is essential, calling it “the arsenal of Ukrainian democracy” and “the most consequential global coalition in more than 30 years.”

President Joe Biden was to have his final face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy in the coming days in Rome, but he canceled the trip because of the devastating fires in California.

Pistorius said he intends to travel to the U.S. shortly after Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration to meet his new counterpart to discuss the issue.

“It’s clear a new chapter starts for Europe and the entire world just 11 days from now,” and it will require even more cooperation, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine has launched a second offensive in Russia’s Kursk region and is facing a barrage of long-range missiles and ongoing advances from Russia as both sides seek to put themselves in the strongest negotiating position possible before Trump takes office.

Zelenskyy called the Kursk offensive “one of our biggest wins,” which has cost Russia and North Korea, which sent soldiers to help Russia, thousands of troops. Zelenskyy said the offensive resulted in North Korea suffering 4,000 casualties, but U.S. estimates put the number lower at about 1,200.

Zelenskyy said Ukraine will continue to need air defense systems and munitions to defend against Russia's missile attacks.

The latest U.S. aid package includes missiles for air defense and for fighter jets, sustainment equipment for F-16s, armored bridging systems and small arms and ammunition.

The weapons are funded through presidential drawdown authority, meaning they can be pulled directly from U.S. stockpiles, and the Pentagon is pushing to get them into Ukraine before the end of the month.

Unless there is another aid package approved, the Biden administration will leave about $3.85 billion in congressionally authorized funding for any future arms shipments to Ukraine. It will be up to Trump to decide whether or not to spend it.

“If Putin swallows Ukraine, his appetite will only grow,” Austin told the contact group leaders. "If tyrants learn that aggression pays, we will only invite even more aggression, chaos, and war.”

In the months since Trump's election victory, Europeans have grappled with what that change will mean in terms of their fight to keep Russia from further advancing, and whether the post-World War II Western alliance will hold.

In recent days, Trump has threatened to take Greenland, which is part of the Kingdom of Denmark — a NATO member — by military means if necessary. Such action would upend all norms of the historic NATO alliance and possibly require members to come to the defense of Denmark.

Austin declined to comment on Trump’s threat, but Pistorius called it “diplomatically astonishing.”

“Alliances are alliances, to stay alliances. Regardless of who is governing countries,” Pistorius said. “I'm quite optimistic that remarks like that won't really influence U.S. politics after the 20th of January.”

Globally, countries including the U.S. have ramped up weapons production as the Ukraine war exposed that all of those stockpiles were woefully unprepared for a major conventional land war.

The U.S. has provided about $66 billion of the total aid since February 2022 and has been able to deliver most of that total — between 80% and 90% — already to Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attends a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, right, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

From left: U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attends a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, right, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius attend a meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Marijan Murat/dpa via AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was arrested Thursday when her motorcycle convoy was fired upon by security forces as it departed an anti-government protest in Caracas, according to aides.

Machado emerged from months of hiding earlier Thursday to reappear in public as part of a last-ditch attempt to block President Nicolás Maduro from clinging to power.

Machado’s press team said in a social media post that security forces “violently intercepted” the convoy as it was leaving eastern Caracas.

“They wanted us to fight each other, but Venezuela is united, we are not afraid,” Machado shouted to a few hundred protesters from atop a truck in the capital moments before her arrest.

There were no immediate details on her whereabouts and Maduro’s government has yet to comment. But the shock arrest spurred calls for her immediate release from across Latin America, including the President of Panama.

“Will the United Nations be capable enough to take action to rescue Maria Corina Machado?,” former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on social media.

Machado, 57, is a hardliner former lawmaker who stayed and fought against Maduro even after many of her allies in the opposition leadership fled, joining an exodus of some 7 million Venezuelans who’ve abandoned their homeland in recent years.

The protests called for by Machado took place a day before the ruling party-controlled National Assembly is scheduled to swear in Maduro to a third six-year term despite credible evidence that he lost the presidential election.

There was a relatively small turnout for Thursday's protests as riot police were deployed in force. Venezuelans who’ve witnessed Maduro’s security forces round up scores of opponents and regular bystanders since the July election were reluctant to mobilize in the same numbers as they have in the past.

“Of course, there’s fewer people,” said empanada vendor Miguel Contrera as National Guard soldiers carrying riot shields buzzed by on motorcycles. “There’s fear.”

Those demonstrators that did show up blocked a main avenue in one opposition stronghold. Many were senior citizens and dressed in red, yellow and blue, answering Machado’s call to wear the colors of the Venezuelan flag. All repudiated Maduro and said they would recognize Edmundo González — Machado’s last minute stand-in on the ballot — as Venezuela’s legitimate president.

The deployment of security forces as well as pro-government armed groups known as “colectivos” to intimidate opponents betrays a deep insecurity on the part of Maduro, said Javier Corrales, a Latin America expert at Amherst College.

Since the elections, the government has arrested more than 2,000 people — including as many as 10 Americans and other foreigners — who it claims have been plotting to oust Maduro and sow chaos in the oil rich South American nation. This week alone, masked gunmen arrested a former presidential candidate, a prominent free speech activist and even González’s son-in-law as he was taking his young children to school.

“It’s an impressive show of force but it’s also a sign of weakness,” said Corrales, who co-authored this month an article, “How Maduro Stole Venezuela’s Vote,” in the Journal of Democracy.

“Maduro is safe in office,” said Corrales, “but he and his allies recognize they are moving forward with a big lie and have no other way to justify what they are doing except by relying on the military.”

González, who has been crisscrossing the Americas this week after fleeing to Spain in September, appeared to walk back a pledge to return to Venezuela to take office himself on Jan. 10, saying instead he’d be back “very soon.”

“It’s evident that a regime like that represents a threat to the hemisphere,” he said while visiting the Dominican Republic, where he met with President Luis Abinader and a delegation of former presidents from across Latin America. “That is why we Venezuelans are determined to persevere in this fight until the end,”

Venezuela’s National Electoral Council, also stacked with government loyalists, declared Maduro the winner of the election. But unlike in previous contests, authorities did not provide any access to voting records or precinct-level results.

The opposition, however, collected tally sheets from 85% of electronic voting machines and posted them online. They showed that its candidate, Edmundo González, had thrashed Maduro by a more than two-to-one margin. Experts from the United Nations and the Atlanta-based Carter Center, both invited by Maduro’s government to observe the election, have said the tally sheets published by the opposition are legitimate.

The U.S. and other governments have also recognized González as Venezuela’s president-elect. Even many of Maduro’s former leftist allies in Latin America plan to skip Friday’s swearing-in ceremony.

President Joe Biden, meeting González at the White House this week, praised the previously unknown retired diplomat for having “inspired millions.”

“The people of Venezuela deserve a peaceful transfer of power to the true winner of their presidential election,” Biden said following the meeting.

—

Goodman reported from Miami.

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters at a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters at a protest against President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Police detain an opponent of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during a protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters during a protest against President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado addresses supporters during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro display a Venezuelan flag during a protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Venezuelan Tulio Rodriguez holds a wanted sign of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro that reads in Spanish: "Reward. Dead or alive" outside the Venezuelan embassy in Lima, Peru, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, the day before his inauguration for a third term. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A woman cries during a protest by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term, in Bogota, Colombia, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ivan Valencia)

A man waves a flag during a protest by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Security forces patrol past opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who are demonstrating the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Government supporters, right, argue with an opponent of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro during an opposition protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro demonstrate the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)

Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez waves after meeting with former presidents of various Latin American countries at the presidential palace in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Ricardo Hernandez)

A youth plays a horn during a protest by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Government supporters ride past opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who are protesting the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

A man wearing the phrase in Spanish "Fight for freedom" kneels during a demonstration by opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)

Government supporters shout at opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who are protesting the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Cristian Hernandez)

Former Venezuelan opposition presidential candidate Edmundo Gonzalez, third from left, stands with former presidents, from left, Vicente Fox of Mexico, Andres Pastrana of Colombia, Hipolito Mejia of the Dominican Republic, Jamil Mahuad of Ecuador and Felipe Calderon of Mexico at the presidential palace in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP PhotoRicardo Hernandez)

Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro protest the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)