BERLIN — United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin will convene a meeting of Ukraine’s allies at the Ramstein Air Base in Germany next Thursday to discuss military aid — just days before Donald Trump returns to the White House for a second term as president.
The meeting of the so-called Ukraine Defense Contact Group will see Austin lead a discussion between defense ministers from more than 50 countries for the 25th time since Russia launched its all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The last full meeting took place in September. U.S. President Joe Biden had been due to chair a leaders’ level meeting for the the group during a three-day visit to Germany in October that ended up being cancelled due to the fallout from Hurricane Milton.
No full meeting for the group has been convened since Trump’s election victory in November.
The loose alliance — also known as the Ramstein format, named after the air base in which it is usually convened — has been run by the U.S. Department of Defense since the start of Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine.
Since then, it has been the principle vehicle for coordinating Western military support on everything from air defense to drone warfare to cybersecurity.
It is as yet unclear whether Trump, who has repeatedly claimed he will end the war quickly after taking office, will continue the initiative. Some officials had wanted NATO to take on leadership of the network to make sure it continues — with or without the next U.S. president’s support.
Earlier this week, Biden announced nearly $2.5 billion in fresh military aid for Kyiv.
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