As Ukraine's counteroffensive begins, Kyiv has the ability to recover and repair its damaged equipment and get it "back into the fight," US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters Thursday after a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Brussels, Belgium.

The top US general, Mark Milley, said Kyiv is "making steady progress" in its counteroffensive, but outlined some of the difficulties in the effort.

"This is a very difficult fight. It is a very violent fight. And it will likely take a considerable amount of time and at high cost," Milley, who is the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in the news conference alongside Austin.The US defense secretary note that “there will continue to be battle damage” but that the Ukrainian forces “still have a lot of combat capability, combat power.”