IRIA News

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin hosted the first in-person Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting of this year at the Ramstein airbase in Germany on March 19, 2024. The meeting between the coalition of 50 nations convened to synchronize their efforts in aiding Ukraine.

Austin opened the Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG) talks by stating that “Ukraine’s troops face harsh conditions and hard fighting, and Ukraine’s civilians endure a constant barrage of Russian missiles and Iranian drones.”

He added that “Ukraine won’t back down, and neither will the United States. So, our message today is clear: The United States will not let Ukraine fail. This coalition will not let Ukraine fail. And the free world will not let Ukraine fail.”

Although Ukrainian forces have engaged Russian forces in the eastern region and dealt “significant blows” to Russian forces in the Black Sea, Russia, with assistance from North Korea and Iran, has substantially increased its defense manufacturing capabilities. Consequently, Ukraine has been compelled to withdraw from certain conflicts due to shortages of ammunition.

The U.S. recently announced new U.S. security assistance sourced from previous drawdowns. Today, we are fully determined to keep U.S. security assistance and ammunition flowing to Ukraine.

It’s a matter of survival for Ukraine. And it’s a matter of security for America. pic.twitter.com/2zLV7LvjAy

— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) March 19, 2024

One day before the UDCG meeting, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called upon Kyiv’s allies to provide additional air defense systems, citing that Russia had unleashed 130 missiles, over 320 attack drones, and nearly 900 guided bombs in attacks during the current month alone.

The U.S. announced a new military aid package for Ukraine last week, worth around $300 million. The package will support Ukraine’s pressing needs for new air defense, artillery shells, anti-tank weapons, and other capabilities, Austin told his European allies at the UDGC meeting.

Additional immediate support was announced by the Czech Republic, which has recently acquired 800,000 “urgently required” artillery shells for Ukraine. Furthermore, Germany, France, Denmark, and Sweden, the newest NATO member, also pledged new military assistance packages for Ukraine during the meeting.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius told reporters at the end of the meeting that Germany will provide ammunition and armored and transport vehicles worth about $542 million.

“We are helping Ukraine with what it needs most in its defense against Russian aggression,” Pistorius said, adding that the aid includes 10,000 rounds of ammunition from the German Army, or Bundeswehr, stocks that would be delivered to Ukraine very soon, as well as 100 armored vehicles for the infantry and 100 transport vehicles.

Depleting aid from US

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, the United States has provided approximately $44 billion in security assistance to Ukraine, while allies and partners have also pledged over $44 billion during the same period.

The U.S. military has depleted its congressionally approved funds for replenishing the weapons stockpiles sent to Ukraine, and the leadership in the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives has yet to schedule a vote on new aid for Ukraine.

U.S. officials have been publicly expressing the hope that lawmakers will manage to act soon to approve the supplemental bill, but they have also been struggling to find other ways to get assistance to Ukraine.

The latest $300 million military package was announced by the U.S. after a long delay. The package has been designed to only cater to the most important need for now such as more ammunition for HIMARS and 155-mm artillery rounds. 

Coalition leadership

So far, the U.S. Defense Secretary has been leading the UDCG, however, due to the increasing number of coalition partners and the medical complications that Secretary Austin has been going through, the UDCG members decided to a joint coalition leadership to identify ways to increase Kyiv’s efficiency and cut costs.

According to the new format, The United States, Denmark, and the Netherlands would co-lead the Air Force capability. Poland and Italy would co-lead the armor capability. France and the United States would co-lead the artillery capability.

I’m grateful to my German colleague Boris Pistorius for announcing a new military aid package for Ukraine worth almost 500 million euros. The package includes ammunition from Bundeswehr stocks, the Czech initiative, and contracts with industry. By demonstrating solidarity in the… https://t.co/bSbEQEGL09

— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) March 19, 2024

De-mining efforts are co-led by Lithuania and Iceland. Latvia and the United Kingdom co-lead the drone capability. Estonia and Luxembourg co-lead information technology initiatives. Germany and France co-lead integrated air and missile defense capabilities, while maritime security is co-led by the United Kingdom and Norway.