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Pentagon: Next Ramstein-format summit to be held in mid-November

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Pentagon: Next Ramstein-format summit to be held in mid-November
Defense Minister Rustem Umerov and U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at the 15th Ramstein summit on Sept. 19., 2023. Illustrative purposes only. (Rustem Umerov / Twitter)

The 17th Ramstein-format summit of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) will be held in mid-November, Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh said on Nov. 9.

The UDCG is comprised of over 50 countries, including all 31 NATO members, and has been meeting regularly since April 2022 to coordinate military support for Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.

The U.S. is continuing to provide military aid to Kyiv, but the packages are getting smaller as Washington used all of the allocated USAI (Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative) funding, with only $1 billion left in existing resources to backfill U.S. stocks, Singh said.

"Allies and partners are continuing to support Ukraine, we are continuing to support Ukraine in what they need in their fight," the spokesperson said during a press briefing.

"You saw a package that we rolled out last week. We're going to continue to roll out packages, they just are getting smaller."

Singh urged Congress to back the $105 billion funding package presented by the White House, which includes $61 billion for Ukraine, so that the U.S. can continue to meet Kyiv's battlefield needs.

The previous 16th Ramstein-format meeting was held in Brussels on Oct. 11. During the summit, which was attended by President Volodymyr Zelensky, the allies pledged to help Ukraine prepare for the upcoming winter by providing air defenses and other necessary support.

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Martin Fornusek

Senior News Editor

Martin Fornusek is a news editor at the Kyiv Independent. He has previously worked as a news content editor at the media company Newsmatics and is a contributor to Euromaidan Press. He was also volunteering as an editor and translator at the Czech-language version of Ukraïner. Martin studied at Masaryk University in Brno, Czechia, holding a bachelor's degree in security studies and history and a master's degree in conflict and democracy studies.

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