A year in, the U.S. makes a pledge: 'Ukraine will decide what victory looks like'

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says it's for Ukraine to decide what any victory looks like in the war. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin says the U.S. is committed to putting Ukraine in the best possible position to end Russia's unprovoked invasion, "whether or not the fighting continues, or whether or not they decide to go to the negotiating table" — but he declined to say whether battlefield victories or diplomacy were the shared end goal.

"Ukraine is gonna decide what victory's gonna look like," Secretary Austin told NPR's Ari Shapiro. "So I don't want to speak for President [Volodymyr] Zelenskyy or the Ukrainian people."