Kyiv, Ukraine  -  US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin arrived in Kyiv Monday in a show of support for Ukraine at a critical moment in its war with Russia and just weeks before the US election. Austin arrived as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urges Western allies to lift restrictions on the use of long-range weapons and presses for an immediate invitation to join NATO. “I’m back in Ukraine for the fourth time as secretary of defense,” Austin wrote on X, posting a picture of himself at Kyiv railway station. He said his previously unannounced visit demonstrated that “the United States, alongside the international community, continues to stand by Ukraine”.