US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will again miss the meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defense in the "Ramstein" format, which will take place on Wednesday, April 15. Instead, Elbridge Colby, head of the Pentagon's political department, will participate online from the US, Politico reports with reference to sources, according to UNN.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will again miss this week's meeting of the Contact Group on Ukraine's Defense, making the US one of the few countries not to send a senior civilian defense official to the crucial meeting of Ukraine's allies
Instead, according to two American officials, Elbridge Colby, head of the Pentagon's political department, will participate in the virtual meeting, as he did at the previous meeting in February.
The publication notes that Hegseth has only sporadically attended meetings over the past year - a sign that the Trump administration has other priorities and increasingly expects Europe to bear the burden of supplying weapons to Kyiv.
More than 50 defense ministers from countries committed to supporting Ukraine will gather online on Wednesday. The meeting will be chaired by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and British Defense Minister John Healey, who took over the coordination of the group after the Trump administration relinquished its leadership position shortly after taking office.
NATO forces commander, American General Alexus Grinkevich, will not be able to attend, but his deputy, British Air Chief Marshal Sir Johnny Stringer, and German Major General Ulf Heussler, Deputy Commander of NATO's Security and Training Service for Ukraine, will be present at the meeting instead.
Recall
Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov held a working conversation with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius. Ukraine is preparing for the next meeting in the "Ramstein" format, which will take place on April 15.