U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will join the upcoming Ramstein-format meeting through a video conference despite earlier rumors he might skip the summit entirely, Defense News reported on April 8, citing U.S. and European official sources.
The April 11 meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) will take place in Brussels under the chairmanship of the U.K. and Germany.
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 some 50 of Kyiv's allies, jointly providing $126 billion in military aid for Ukraine.
European officials said that Hegseth joining online is a better option than his complete absence, but they would still prefer him arriving in person, Defense News wrote. The news outlet initially reported that, according to official sources, the Pentagon's chief would not attend the summit in person or online.
Austin has traditionally chaired the UDCG's meetings as the U.S. has been the leading military donor to Ukraine, providing some $67 billion in arms and equipment since 2022.
U.S. President Donald Trump's accession to office in January brought a major shift in the U.S.'s foreign policy. The new administration has yet to approve any new aid package for Kyiv and signaled reduced commitment to Europe's and Ukraine's security.
The 26th Ramstein format meeting on Feb. 12, the first summit since Trump took office, was also the first UDCG meeting not chaired by the U.S. defense secretary as Hegseth passed the role to his British counterpart, John Healey.
Hegseth nevertheless attended the Feb. 12 meeting in person while not committing any new assistance and calling Ukraine's hopes to join NATO and liberate all of its territories "unrealistic" in his address to the allies.
Kateryna Denisova
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