Pentagon chief opens Ramstein meeting

Today, February 14, United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin officially opened the Ukraine Defense Contact Group meeting, addressing the participants online.

The US Ministry of Defense reported this.

This is the 19th meeting in the "Ramstein" format, Ukrinform's own correspondent reports.

"Today, we will work together on Ukraine's short-term needs, including its urgent need for more artillery, ammunition, and air defense missiles," the Pentagon chief noted in his opening speech.

It should be noted that the head of the Pentagon, Lloyd Austin, canceled his trip to Brussels, where the 19th meeting of the Ramstein-style contact group was supposed to occur, due to urgent hospitalization.

As previously reported by Rubryka, the 70-year-old Secretary of Defense of the USA Lloyd Austin, who was urgently hospitalized in Washington on Sunday due to bladder problems, transferred the duties of his office to the deputy head of the Pentagon, Kathleen Hicks.

She has been granted authority by the Pentagon chief multiple times in relation to Austin's health issues. In early January, she was also authorized to represent her boss during the minister's recent hospitalization on New Year's Eve.

It is worth noting that the contact group meeting on the defense of Ukraine in the "Ramstein" format would take place in Brussels on February 14, before the meeting of defense ministers of the Alliance countries, which was scheduled for the next day.

For reference:

The Ukraine Defense Contact Group (UDCG, also known as the Ramstein group) consists of 54 countries (including all 31 NATO member states and 23 other countries) who have come together to support Ukraine's defense in light of the 2022 Russian invasion. The group holds monthly meetings to coordinate the ongoing provision of military aid.

The first meeting, attended by 41 countries, was held on April 26, 2022.