WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military expects more than 20 countries to attend Ukraine-focused defense talks it will host in Germany next week that will focus in part on Kyiv's long-term defense needs, the Pentagon said on Friday.

       Pentagon spokesman John Kirby appeared to play down expectations of announcements about long-term assistance at the April 26 talks, saying: "We're not going into this with a pre-cooked set of endings here."

       He added that about 40 nations were invited to attend the talks, which were not being organized under the NATO alliance umbrella, and include non-NATO nation states.

       (Reporting by Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali; Editing by Chris Reese)