Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he will urge allies to boost his country's air defenses at a meeting this week in Germany.

Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin accepted the Naming Commission’s change and announced it would take place by Jan. 1, 2024.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):2:15 p.m.Lloyd Austin, the retired Army general whom President-elect Joe Biden picked to be secretary of defense, says he reveres the principle of civilian control of the military. Austin retired four years ago after 41 years in the Army. Austin says he understands the need for civilian control of the military and sees himself as a civilian, not as a general. Congress intended civilian control of the military when it created the position of secretary of defense in 1947 and prohibited a recently retired military officer from holding the position. Austin retired in 2016.

WASHINGTON – The Latest on President-elect Joe Biden (all times local):4:20 p.m.President-elect Joe Biden is confirming that he will nominate retired Army Gen. Lloyd Austin to be secretary of defense. And he wrote that Austin knows that the secretary of defense has a different set of responsibilities than a military officer. ___HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PRESIDENT-ELECT JOE BIDEN'S TRANSITION TO THE WHITE HOUSE:President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. Those pledges came even as Biden struck a somber tone about the toll the coronavirus has already taken. The Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies is being prevented from publicly announcing its plans for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Biden countered the concerns by arguing that Austin knows that a Pentagon chief's duties are different from those of a military officer. But the requirement for a congressional waiver makes getting him installed as Pentagon chief more complicated than usual. Austin retired in 2016 after 41 years in the Army and has never held a political position. Some prominent Democrats opposed the Mattis waiver, and among those who voted for it, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island expressed doubts. Biden has known Austin at least since the general's years leading U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq while Biden was vice president.

WASHINGTON – President-elect Joe Biden will nominate retired four-star Army general Lloyd J. Austin to be secretary of defense, according to four people familiar with the decision. Biden selected Austin over the longtime front-runner candidate, Michele Flournoy, a former senior Pentagon official and Biden supporter who would have been the first woman to serve as defense secretary. Biden also had considered Jeh Johnson, a former Pentagon general counsel and former secretary of homeland defense. Like Mattis, Austin would need to obtain a congressional waiver to serve as defense secretary. When Austin retired in 2016, Obama praised his “character and competence,” as well as his judgment and leadership.