For the first time, Pentagon chief to skip Ramstein-format meeting of Ukraine's allies
Editor's note: This story has been updated to include Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson's statement and reporting by RFE/RL.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will not attend the June 4 meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG), the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing a U.S. official.
The news agency reported that Hegseth will not arrive in Brussels until the conference is over and will not participate in the event online either. This will be the first meeting of Kyiv’s roughly 50 military backers in the so-called Ramstein format that the Pentagon chief will not attend.
According to Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson, Hegseth's travel schedule precluded attendance at the meeting.
"The United States is focused on ending the war in Ukraine as quickly as possible, on terms that establish an enduring peace," she added.
The U.S. will instead be represented by its ambassador to NATO, Matthew Whitaker, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported. Hegseth will also not be present at the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting on June 5, according to the outlet's sources.
The U.K. and Germany will chair the June 4 meeting, which will take place as Russia continues to reject a ceasefire and reportedly prepares new offensives against Ukraine.
Ukraine has called upon its partners to invest more in its arms production and to provide additional air defenses, namely Patriot systems, to help fend off intensifying Russian aerial attacks.
Hegseth's predecessor, former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, launched the UDCG after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war in 2022 to coordinate assistance among Kyiv's allies.
The last Ramstein-format UDCG meeting took place in Brussels on April 11 under the chairmanship of London and Berlin, with allies committing more than 21 billion euros ($23.8 billion) in long-term military aid to Ukraine.
Hegseth attended the Ramstein summit on Feb. 12, but not as its chairman, a position held by Austin until then. His British counterpart, John Healey, presided over the summit instead. Previous reporting suggested that the defense secretary was to skip the April meeting, but he eventually joined via video link.
Since taking office in January, U.S. President Donald Trump has begun scaling down the U.S. presence in various international pro-Ukraine initiatives as he seeks to broker a ceasefire and a peace deal between Kyiv and Moscow.
As the peace talks stall, Trump has signaled he might walk away from the effort. The U.S. president has been notably silent on the most recent war developments, including the most recent peace talks in Istanbul or Ukraine's mass drone attack on the Russian strategic aviation.
Oleg Sukhov
