US Defense Secretary convenes Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting with NATO Allies

Europe, News, US February 15, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

The United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin convened the ninth Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on February 14, 2023.

The two-day meeting is being attended by the NATO Defense Ministers, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, and Ukraine Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov. The two-day defense ministerial meeting is focused on the Russia-Ukraine war and the officials are discussing ways to enhance support for Ukraine.

While speaking at the meeting on the first day, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said there are no signs that President Putin is preparing for peace, stressing the urgency of delivering military capabilities to Ukraine quickly so that it can continue to defend itself.

Stoltenberg added that the Allies would also take steps to replenish Allied munitions stocks and address ways to better protect critical undersea infrastructure. “Allies will also start to discuss the new defense investment pledge to ensure we continue to invest more in defense”, Stoltenberg said during his opening remarks at the meeting.

The U.S. Secretary General Lloyd Austin also addressed the meeting with his opening remarks by stating that “Putin thought that in a matter of days, his forces would seize Kyiv and overthrow Ukraine’s democratically-elected government, and he thought that the international community would just live with it.”

Defense Secretary Austin pointed out that all the NATO member states are working together to provide more advanced weapons and air defense systems to Ukraine in order to repel Russia’s expected advances in the coming spring.

^{Officials from the U.S. and European nations attending the ninth Ukraine Defense Contact Group Meeting led by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin in Brussels, Belgium. (Image Credit: Twitter/@SecDef)}

Austin highlighted that “the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands are working together to provide Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine. France and Italy are working to provide a SAMP/T air defense system, and a consortium of countries, including Germany, Poland, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands are working together to provide Leopard battle tanks to Ukraine.”

The U.S. defense secretary also said that the United States, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands are jointly providing more than 90 T-72 tanks. This is in addition to Poland’s latest donation of T-72 tanks to Ukraine while the UK has provided a company of Challenger main battle tanks and has worked with several countries to source more ammunition for Ukraine’s defenders. The U.S. and other NATO members are working together on training for the Ukrainian Armed Forces through bilateral and multilateral training initiatives such as the European Union’s military assistance mission.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov appreciated the efforts made by Ukraine’s western partners. In his official statement regarding the meeting he said that “for the ninth time, I have the honor of leading a joint team of representatives of the Ministry of Defense, intelligence, the General Staff and our diplomats, which will work intensively with partners in the coming days. The pace is extremely high.”