11th Ramstein Summit begins

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin welcomed Defense Secretary Oleksii Reznikov to the start of the 11th Ukraine Defense Contact Group summit at the Ramstein air base in Germany on April 21.

"It’s always a pleasure to speak with my good friend and counterpart Oleksii Reznikov," Austin wrote.

"Over the past year, members of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group have provided tremendous capabilities to Ukraine. We will support them for as long as it takes."

Ramstein summits are held to coordinate efforts to provide military aid to Ukraine.

Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov described the last meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on March 15 as one that "inspired optimism" concerning the strengthening of air defense, ammunition supplies, training of soldiers, and forming what he has called an "armored fist."

Regarding the April 21 meeting, Reznikov wrote that the agenda was "an analysis of what’s been done, our strategy for 2023, current needs of the Armed Forces, and the distribution of assistance programs to all divisions of Ukraine's Defense Forces."

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Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in our op-ed section are those of the authors and do not purport to reflect the views of the Kyiv Independent. When Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began almost a year ago, the issue of Ukraine’s very existence and survival came to

Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov