The White House is set to announce additional military aid to Ukraine worth up to $275 million, the US defense secretary said.

Lloyd Austin said this support would “meet critical battlefield needs” and include munitions for rocket systems, artillery and tank weapons.

At a briefing in Laos, Mr Austin also explained the decision to supply Ukraine with anti-personnel mines.

“What we’ve seen recently is that because the Russians have failed in their way of fighting, they’ve sort of changed their tactics a little bit and they’re no longer leading with their mechanized forces,” he says.

“They are leading with dismounted forces that are able to get close and do things to clear the way for mechanized forces.”

Ukraine now needs weapons such as landmines to slow Russian efforts on the ground, he said.

“The landmines that we’re looking at supplying to them would be landmines that are not persistent – we can control when they will self-activate, self-detonate, which ultimately makes them much safer than things that (Ukrainians) create.” by themselves.”